On The Mend
by Rannaty
Summary: Sequel to Over The Bend. Wirt was starting to find himself. He felt like he knew his own mind, the people in his life cared about him. In an attempt at getting closer to his partners and helping his partners to get closer to each other he let's Bill possess him. The results aren't what he had thought they would. Bill isn't the only one in the relationship with confusing motives.
1. Back At It

A/N: This'll probably update faster/more regularly on ao3 but here's a sequel

* * *

The X-Files theme blared from the phone on the kitchen table. Wirt didn't look up from his notebook. "Dipper, it's work," he called across the hall where his boyfriend was pacing.

Dipper came over, "Please actually be aliens," and picked up," Dipper Pines speaking."

Wirt put his pen down and met Dipper's eyes just in time to see the face he pulled whenever he thought the problem was mundane. He sounded interested enough to be professional but Wirt could tell he wasn't thrilled to deal with whatever the client was calling him about.

The small, relatively harmless creatures of Gravity Falls had been active since the beginning of spring. It was never anything big, just tools and pick-nick baskets going missing. Dipper's patience was stretched thin; the work was too easy. Going into the woods to track down a couple of shovels was nothing to someone who had mapped out the surroundings years ago.

Dipper hung up and slumped down on the chair next to Wirt's. He looked Wirt in the eye, straight faced, and said, "If I have to go get Strange's power tools back one more time, I will die."

Wirt smiled, patting Dipper on the head, "There, there." He got an unimpressed look for his efforts. "Seriously, you said the same thing the last time and you were fine."

"If the boredom doesn't get me, the bears will," Dipper replied before dropping the act and leaning his head against Wirt's shoulder. "Come with me?"

"Alright."

After packing lunch, they were off. The summer season was starting and new faces traveled the closest paths to the woods. Dipper and Wirt were heading farther in, off the safe for tourists' route.

"Have you heard back from Mabel yet?" Wirt asked while strolling along. He wasn't as comfortable in the woods as Dipper was so he kept a step behind, off to the side.

"Yeah, she said she's gonna get here next week," Dipper grinned, instantly cheered up by the mention of his twin. Wirt had met her last Christmas, and he was excited to see her again, too. "She's so much better at dealing with tourists. It'll be a huge weight off my back," Dipper continued. They trekked on in silence for a while, in higher spirits than when they had started out.

Noon came. Wirt dug out their sandwiches from Dipper's backpack as they walked. He handed Dipper one and unwrapped one for himself. It was good but then, food tasted better outside.

The sun was starting to set by the time they got to their destination near the hills surrounding the Falls. Wirt glanced around, the darkening forest making him nervous. The therapy helped but he still wasn't comfortable in the woods at night. He took comfort in the fact that Dipper was there, and Wirt knew he wouldn't let anything happen to him. He took a calming breath and stood by as Dipper retrieved the tools.

Something skittered in the tree closest to him. He moved away. "Dipper? We need to get back, it'll be dark soon."

"Hang on," Dipper said, emerging from the bushes he had crawled into. He had the tool case with him. Wirt relaxed, tension releasing from his shoulders. "Hey," Dipper searched his face as he came to stand by him. "How are you holding up?" he asked. "If we power walk, we're going to get back before nightfall, ok?"

Wirt smiled. "I'm fine." Sure, he wanted out of there before dark but he wasn't panicking or anything. Things were good. They could be worse. "Let's just leave."

Dipper didn't look convinced but he let the matter drop. He took Wirt's hand to his free one and started leading them back.

The wind moving in the trees made Wirt uneasy. It helped that Dipper squeezed his hand at every sound, glancing back at him. The small gestures were what what got him through the worst of times.

Dipper's step faltered. "Wow, hey, so Bill's around again."

"Where did he go?" Wirt asked without much enthusiasm. He trusted Dipper to stay on top of whatever it was that Bill did and had accepted that he didn't want to know most of the time.

Dipper shrugged. "He's sort of been in and out of the Mindscape, running things over there, keeping an eye on us. The usual. Want to pester him for details? Because I don't."

Sometimes Wirt still wondered how the strange balancing act between Dipper and Bill worked. He knew that they cared about each other, both in their unique way, but at times there seemed to be this underlying antagonism between them.

Before Wirt could respond, he had to grab Dipper's body by the arm to keep it from hitting the ground. While trying to balance both holding onto Dipper and moving to prevent his foot from getting crushed by the tool case, Wirt ended up much closer to yellow eyes than he had been prepared for.

"Hiya, Pilgrim. Didcha miss me?"

Wirt flinched but it was more the volume than the proximity. "Would it go to your head if I said yes?"

"Yes!"

"Then no." He matched the unblinking stare for a moment before glancing to the side, less tense. "Alright, yes. A little. But I think Dipper's missed you more. He's been so grumpy lately."

"He's always grumpy this time of year," Bill dismissed his concerns. "He can be such a whiny baby. If he complains about work being boring one more time, I'll start the apocalypse just to give him something to do." The demon spoke as though Dipper couldn't hear every word.

Wirt pulled back a little. "What's going on with you two? I feel like I'm missing something, here."

Bill looked puzzled. "Why do you think something's going on?"

"I mean," Wirt paused to think. "You haven't been around as much as usual, and Dipper acts like he doesn't care but I know he does. I realize some of his bad mood is seasonal but I feel like you have something to do with it, too?"

"Ooooh," Bill said, grinning. "You think we're fighting! That's adorable." He pinched Wirt's cheek and Wirt swapped his hand away. He wasn't phased. "Trust me Pilgrim. If we were fighting, you'd be the first collateral, and neither of us wants that."

First, Wirt just stared. Then he tried to form words. On his second try he managed a weak, "You have a creepy way of being reassuring."

"You know it! Now let's get you back to civilization before we get a repeat of last fall, huh?" Bill grabbed the tools, and Wirt, and started dragging them both towards the Shack. Wirt didn't bother protesting; he did want out of the woods. He didn't appreciate the reminder of what had brought him here but found comfort in the knowledge that Bill cared enough to know what was going on with him.

"You know, Pilgrim," Bill said with a casual glance over his shoulder. "If it starts getting to you, I could take the reigns."

"Take the..." Wirt repeated, confused before the meaning hit him. "No. No way."

Bill shrugged but didn't look back at Wirt again. "Just a suggestion. No need to get so weird about it."

"I'm being weird?" Wirt tried to yank his arm free without success. "I wonder if that has something to do with how I'm still getting over the last time someone tried to take over my body!"

"You're definitely on the right track there," the demon ignored Wirt's heavy sarcasm. Like usual. "Except I wouldn't replace you, you'd just be along for the ride for a while."

Wirt dragged his feet in an effort to either stop or to make Bill face him. "Bill, seriously, this is kind of a heavy topic, at least look at me."

Bill made a point not to. "You don't trust me."

"That's not it!" Wirt threw his free hand into the air. "I trust you, alright?"

Bill snorted.

"I do." Wirt amended, "To a point. I just feel like this needs more than that."

"It's not as big a deal as you're making it."

"Right," Wirt sighed. Just how tired he was from the several hours of walking hit him then, and he didn't feel up to discussing the possibility of consensual demonic possession before he had gotten some sleep. "Look, can we talk about this tomorrow? Sometime after breakfast?" The last time he had made the mistake of being vague about the definition of "tomorrow", Bill had woken him up a second past midnight. "And I mean after I've woken up in the morning and had breakfast. That I ate. In the kitchen."

"Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean, yeesh."

"You would've just fed me breakfast in the middle of the night."

Finally, Bill looked back at him, grinning. "You got it in one, Pilgrim."

The next morning, Wirt woke up alone. Confused, he felt around Dipper's side of the bed, and when he found nothing more than cooling sheets, he sat up. Dipper's research work had kept him up late, and he didn't have anything scheduled in the morning. Whenever those circumstances had come together in the past, he had slept well into the afternoon.

Wirt relaxed when he heard Dipper moving around downstairs. The footsteps and click-and-clang of kitchenware didn't sound urgent. He lazed around for a moment before remembering that he was supposed to have a talk with Bill. With a resigned sigh, he got up.

Downstairs, Dipper had whipped up both tea and coffee, as well as some eggs. He looked up from where he was setting up the table, smiling. "Good morning."

Wirt stalled in the doorway. "Good morning." He eyed the set up. The tea was his favorite kind, the eggs looked like particular effort had been put into making them. Dipper was buttering his toast. Both literally and metaphorically. "Are you and Bill in cahoots?"

"Of course we are? It's what our relationship is kinda built on."

Wirt gave him A Look.

Dipper's smile faltered. "Just hear me out, ok?" He gestured for Wirt to take a seat and sat down opposite to him once he did.

Wirt took a cautious sip of his tea, waiting for Dipper to say his piece. Before Wirt had gone to bed last night, he had decided to at least listen to whatever Bill had to say about possession. He could extend that to Dipper.

"So, uh," Dipper began, toying with his own mug. "I know what you and Bill talked about yesterday. Obviously. And I also talked about it with him last night." At Wirt's nod, Dipper went from mug-toying to tugging his hand through his hair a couple times before speaking again. "I don't want to pressure you or anything, but I sort of, you know, want you to agree to it?"

Unmoved by Dipper's pleading look, Wirt asked, "Why?"

For a moment Dipper looked like he was about to reach across the table for Wirt's hand but thought better of it. "It's just, um, you know how Bill and I don't really interact in the physical realm, right? We can't, because I'm his vessel on this side. Without me he can't directly effect things over here."

"You've explained it, yes." Wirt had a hunch about where the conversation was going.

"Yeah, so..." Dipper took a deep breath and went for it, "I want you to let Bill possess you so we can touch."

Wirt pushed his mug away before speaking again. "If this is some kind of a sex thing, I-"

Dipper cut him off, "No, no, no, I promise it's not. I swear it's like, one hundred percent innocent on my part."

"That's too many 'no's to be convincing."

"Wirt, come on, I wouldn't-"

Wirt lifted his hand to both silence and calm. "Let me finish. If it is completely innocent like you say, and you just want to, I don't know, hug him, I guess I could think about it. But anything more being done with or to my body while I'm not in control of it makes me extremely uncomfortable."

"I get it," Dipper looked relieved. "I wouldn't want you to do anything you're opposed to. All I ask from you right now, is that you let me walk you through the process," Dipper said. "Tell me any concerns you have, and I'll see if I can figure something out, alright?"

Despite not being entirely convinced, Wirt let himself relax. He trusted Dipper. "Alright."

This time Dipper did reach for his hand, and Wirt reached back. "I made you a PowerPoint presentation," Dipper said, the corner of his mouth curling up.

"Oh my god." Wirt cracked. He started out giggling, which evolved into full laughter. Dipper grinned back at him. "You're such a nerd," Wirt managed after his mirth had subsided. "I can't believe I'm the coolest person in this relationship, honestly."

"Bill disagrees with you, there."

Wirt responded with a fond eye roll and, "Please, Bill is the King Nerd, The Ruler of Dorklandia."

They giggled about it, gently ribbing on Bill who couldn't do anything about it due to being incorporeal.

* * *

Feedback?


	2. The Power Of Point

Dipper pulled out a laptop he had stored somewhere under the kitchen table. He got the screensaver to turn off and launched straight into the presentation.

A lot of the basics were familiar to Wirt from being around Dipper and Bill so much. When it came to the safety measures to guard against something going wrong, he hadn't realized that there were so many. Or that several of them, Dipper had devised himself.

"Well, yeah, I mean, I didn't go into this blind," Dipper said when Wirt commented on it. "I know how Bill can be and the best way to deal with his worst aspects, is to prevent him from showing them." Dipper moved on to the next slide, which was covered with complicated looking symbols. "I know he cares about both of us but I also know that he doesn't care about this world, or the people in it, or human morality in general." He smiled at Wirt who struggled to return it. The whole thing, with Bill having a different set of ideals from any human, continued to be difficult for Wirt to grasp. He just couldn't wrap his head around how Bill saw the world. There was the surface level knowledge that he had gleamed from his partners but he lacked the in-depth understanding Dipper seemed to have.

Dipper noticed something was off. "Hey, it's ok. He won't intentionally hurt you. Bill's been semi-regularly possessing me for over a decade now and I'm fine. He knows what he's doing."

"You complain about how he leaves your body on the floor sometimes, though," Wirt pointed out.

Dipper gave a wry smile. "I never said he wasn't an asshole, just that he knows what human bodies can and can't survive. And hey," Dipper lifted himself from his slouch and flashed one his more charming grins. "I don't know if you know this, but I'm kind of the leading expert on demons."

Wirt attempted to return the grin but his heart was beating so hard all of sudden that he was sure he failed. "Sounds like I'm in good hands."

"The best." Dipper's eyes flitted down and Wirt could feel himself blush. It was ridiculous. His reactions were ridiculous. They had been sharing a bed every night for months now, had been intimate before that. It shouldn't get to him but it did. Dipper got to him.

"I, um." He paused to collect himself. "Weren't we talking about something important?"

"Am I distracting you?"

"Yes," Wirt breathed and it was Dipper's turn to color and look away.

"Uh, that's, that's um, ok." He got the far away expression that meant he was communicating with Bill. "So, he wants us to not get distracted by our mammalian urges and get on with the presentation."

"Right, well I guess there's time for that later." Wirt worked hard not to react to the long, warm look Dipper gave him. "What are these?" he pointed at the screen.

"Those," Dipper said, turning his focus back to the PowerPoint, "are some of the counter measures I was talking about. Most of these are just stuff we can draw on you to keep Bill from getting more access than you want him to. I mean, if he decides to be a dick about it and look for loopholes in your deal, which I doubt he'll do, but." Dipper shrugged.

The symbols weren't horrible to look at, and Wirt supposed he wouldn't mind having them on him somewhere. "Why do you think that?"

"Because he wants this, and he knows that if he fucks with you once he gets it, I won't be letting him anywhere near you again."

This was the kind of fierce devotion that had scared Wirt at first. It still hit him hard just how protective Dipper got over things, and people, he cared about. He had had his doubts: if Bill got a body, Wirt would somehow be less important. Because Bill and Dipper went so far back, because they shared a connection Wirt couldn't even understand, let alone be a part of. It was obvious to him now that he had been wrong. Dipper wouldn't view Wirt as less if he got to interact with Bill in the physical realm, because Dipper had thought from the start that Wirt had intrinsic value, separate from any relationship with Bill.

This wouldn't be like it was with the beast; he would still be himself and cared for.

"I think I'll do it," Wirt said.

Dipper looked like he had trouble keeping up. "Oh, um, you will?"

"I mean, not right now but, yes."

The way Dipper's eyes lit up made the uncertainty worth it. "Thank you," he launched to hug Wirt. "Seriously man, you are the best boyfriend. The most understanding person in general."

Wirt hugged back. "Don't thank me yet, I still have questions." He barely even noticed Dipper slump against him before the body pulled back with a grin too wide to be Dipper's.

"Lemme answer them for you!" Bill shouted in his face.

"Bill, I am right here." There was about two inches between their faces. At this rate, Wirt would be deaf before thirty.

"Yeah, what's you point?" The demon leaned even closer. "If you still want to kiss this body, now's your chance."

"No thanks. We're kind of in the middle of something, here." Not that he didn't want to kiss Dipper but this wasn't Dipper right now.

"Okay! So," Bill got comfortable right where he was, like having a serious conversation while hanging off of someone was normal. "Ask me anything."

Resigned, Wirt asked, "What's the meaning of life?"

Bill didn't miss a beat, "To carry out a bunch of meaningless actions in an uncaring universe until you stop existing."

"That's not what you said the last time," Wirt pointed out. "And we're getting off topic again."

"Your fault." Bill frowned, "Also this body is really hormonal right now. Did you for real get better looking in the last five seconds or is there something wrong with this brain?"

Wirt fought down a blush. Not well, but it was the effort that counted. "Maybe there's just something wrong with your perception."

"No, that's not it." Bill looked like he gave the problem some thought before getting back on track. "A n y way! I want to take over your body, you're okay with it, so what's the hold up?"

"I want to know why you want to," Wirt said, as level as he could. "I know Dipper's side of it but what about you? Why did you just bring it up yesterday? You've never expressed any desire to before, why now?"

Bill glanced up with a sigh, as though asking for strength. "Pilgrim," he said. "Pilgrim, seriously."

Wirt leaned away. "What?"

"I am going to speak very slowly so you can keep up," Bill said, moving to put his hands on both sides of Wirt's face to make sure he was following. "Last fall, you almost got taken over by an entity. We weren't in great terms at first. Pine Tree was extremely protective of you because of those two reasons. If I had brought this up any sooner, you wouldn't have even considered it. Pine Tree would not have sided with me on it." Bill gave Wirt's head a small shake. "Do you understand what I am telling you?"

It took Wirt a moment to suppress his anger at being condescended to, and to actually process what Bill was saying. "That's both really considerate and selfish of you."

"Thanks!"

They talked about possession until Wirt felt like his tongue would fall off. Bill was relentless in answering all of his questions, and Wirt started to see that the demon had put a lot of thought into the matter. Particularly to convincing Wirt to agree. Despite all the information Bill was ready to give, getting Dipper on his side had been the deciding factor.

"Look, Bill, we're not going to do it today," Wirt informed the demon on his lap. "Just let me up. I need to email my editor and get some writing done." It had been a slow process but with a little help from Dipper and his publisher, Wirt had managed to form some connections of his own.

"You can write whenever, you haven't seen me in weeks," Bill argued. "Don't you want to hang out with your favorite demon?"

"Saying that you're my favorite demon is like saying that skin cancer is my favorite cancer."

"But I am your favorite, though right?" Bill didn't let it go. Wirt didn't know why he had expected him to; Bill never let anything go.

"Fine, yes, you're my favorite. But I still need to work." He gave Bill a shove, not hard because he didn't want to harm Dipper's body but hard enough to get himself some space. "Now get off of me. I promise I'll go over some of the counter measures with Dipper later, and we can figure out the details together."

Bill eyed him. "Alright." Wirt saw the grin come back just before Bill pecked him on the lips and got up. "I have some work to do, too. See ya!" With that, he was out. Wirt sat where Bill had left him, blinking. Trying to process everything that had just happened proved futile so he escaped to his work for a few hours.

The sound of the door closing snapped him back to reality. He had just been considering which of his latest pieces he would show to his therapist. Last week, during his appointment, she had asked about his poetry again and Wirt had finally agreed to bring some for her. He knew that soon, if things went well, people would be able to read his writing but that didn't mean he wanted to be in the same room as they did.

Dipper walked in and threw himself on the armchair. He looked worn out, twigs stuck in his hair and a new tear on his jeans.

"What did he do?" Wirt asked.

"There was a thing, in the woods." Dipper gestured to the outdoors before letting his arm flop back down. "Apparently, some of the more sapient creatures are building a fence to keep the tourists out," he explained. "There's like this solar thing and they don't want humans in parts of the forest because of it."

Wirt watched Dipper sink lower on the chair. It was clear that he was tired but there was something else. "Is it bad?"

"No, not really. I'd fence myself off too if that was an option, I just." He sighed, closed his eyes for a moment. "I can't believe I missed it, you know? Every spring it's something so stuff going missing is normal. Usually it's just someone building a nest for their future offspring or something so I didn't think it'd be something else, but I should have." He regarded Wirt with a hollow look. "What if it had been something bad? What if the next time I miss something, it's life threatening?"

"Oh, Dipper, don't go there." Wirt got up and went to Dipper who rearranged himself so they could both sit on the armchair. "Hey," Wirt combed away the stray twigs from Dipper's hair with his fingers. "If it had been life or death, you would've noticed. The only reason this got past you is that it was such a small, nonthreatening thing."

"How do you know that?" Dipper leaned on him, letting himself relax just a touch.

"Because I know you."

For a moment, Dipper just looked at him like what he had said wasn't registering. Then, slowly, he came back to himself, a small smile playing in the corners of his eyes. "What did I do to deserve you."

Wirt smiled back, brighter. "I don't know if you remember, but you sort of saved me just last fall. But," he leaned closer, so that their foreheads were touching, "I'll tell you a secret."

Dipper made a small, curious noise and waited.

"I already liked you way before that," Wirt whispered. His heart leaped when Dipper's smile widened.

They stayed there, close and smiling for a few moments. Then, Wirt remembered that Dipper was still exhausted. He leaned back a little, laughing when Dipper followed. "Come on, it's warm shower and bed for you next."

"But what about the cuddling and research I have planned?" Dipper argued.

"I think we can fit the cuddling in your schedule but the research will have to wait."

After disentangling, Wirt maneuvered Dipper to the bathroom and headed to the attic. It was early for turning in but Dipper needed the rest. Who was Wirt to deny him cuddles?

Shower fresh and relaxed, Dipper climbed in next to Wirt and molded himself into him. "Mmh, hey?" Dipper asked.

"Hey?"

"Have you thought about what kind of a deal you want to make? With Bill?"

Wirt wasn't eager to talk about the deal right then, but Dipper was so warm and pliable that he relented. "I thought it'd be a one time thing, at least at first, and that I'd write down what I'm going to say. Maybe show it to you so you can look it over?" He felt Dipper nod, and nod off.

* * *

It was weird, looking at himself from the outside. Wirt wasn't sure he liked it. They had sat his body on the worn couch in the living room, Dipper had checked that he was ok with the proceedings for what felt like the millionth time, and he had felt his soul, or mind essence or whatever concept formed his self, being yanked out of his body.

A string connected him from the symbol on his physical wrist to the corresponding spot on his spirit. With the string, he could pull himself in at any time and Bill would be forced out. It was the precaution he had been the most comfortable with, not wanting to be locked inside while Bill operated his limbs. Free floating in the air wasn't so bad.

Wirt watched his body, Bill, blink a couple times and look at his hands. Bill wiggled his fingers, stretched his neck, and turned his head to look at Wirt.

"How you doing, Pilgrim?" Wirt's mouth formed the words but it wasn't his voice. Or it was, but there was Bill's echo behind it, the rhythm of his speech different. It was him, his likeness, it wasn't Wirt. The yellow eyes were the most obvious physical difference. What further set it apart from what Wirt saw in the mirror was the expression, the confident grin, the scheme just behind the eyes. The way Bill carried his body. Wirt hadn't known he could look like that.

"Pilgrim?"

"Is there something wrong?" Dipper asked, glancing at where Bill was looking. "Is he ok?"

Wirt snapped out of his wonder to answer, "Yeah, yes I'm fine, I think, it's just strange, is all." His voice echoed.

"He's fine, Pine Tree. A little less articulate than normal, though." Bill winked at Wirt with Wirt's face.

"Please don't do that," Wirt said.

The demon grinned all the wider. Something shifted in Wirt. This wasn't him, the body, _he_ was Wirt. The fleshy part sitting on the couch was Bill now.

"Wirt, just, if it gets too weird, tag in any time," Dipper said to the air a little left of where Wirt was floating.

"I will, don't worry."

"He says we're okay to proceed," Bill said, turning to look at Dipper. He stood up, swayed. "Wow, this body's taller than I'm used to." Bill jiggled a leg, bent the knees. Testing how to operate his new flesh puppet. When that was done to his satisfaction, his eyes found Dipper's again. "Well hello there. I gotta say looking down at you like this is kinda fun."

Dipper's eyes were the widest Wirt had ever seen them. He swallowed. "Hi"

Bill laughed. "So _this_ is what it takes to shut you up. You should see your face, it's hilarious! Your eyes! Do you think that if someone hit you on the back of the head, they'd pop out?"

Wirt made a face. Good to get some confirmation that Bill was a creepy bastard no matter which of them he was with.

It took a moment longer for Dipper to recover enough to shoot Bill a disgusted look. "Dude, no, that's not how eyes work."

"Whatever!" Bill spread his arms. "You have me here now, what next?"

"I, uh." Dipper looked at a loss now that he had what he had asked for. "I guess we'll hug?"

Without further ceremony, they did. Bill stepped closer and closed his arms, now with Dipper inside. Dipper let out a startled, high noise, blushed, and wrapped his arms around Bill.

Two things occurred to Wirt. First, if he had wondered what it would look like when two people who had apparently never hugged anyone tried it for the first time, he didn't anymore. Second, he was witnessing something that should have been a private moment. He was too curious and paranoid to turn around but he tried not to look directly at them.

"Is this everything you ever dreamed of?" Bill asked, still stiff but grinning like the lunatic he was.

"Are you serious right now? This is the worst hug I've ever been a part of," Dipper stated. "What gives? I've seen you hang off Wirt. I know you know how to do this."

"We're being watched. Maybe I have stage fright."

Dipper snorted. "Bullshit. You're made of showmanship and children's nightmares." For a moment he looked like he wanted to snark at Bill some more but then, a thought, "Unless you don't want to? I mean you seemed on board before but if this is uncomfortable for you..."

"Aww, Pine Tree, no."

"Then hug me like you're trying to show Wirt how to do it."

That spurred Bill into action. He tightened the circle of his arms, moving one to the small of Dipper's back and the other to the back of his head. As a final touch, he buried his nose in Dipper's hair by his temple and breathed in. Dipper clung to the the back of Bill's, Wirt's, shirt. "You know, Pine Tree," Bill said, softer than Wirt had thought him capable. "Even if this made me uncomfortable, there aren't a lot of things I wouldn't do for you."

Dipper buried his face where neck met shoulder. "Bill, I..."

"Mind you, a lot of this is just this body's weird human mating urges talking, but I would literally give you the world if you asked me for it, do you think a hug is too much?"

Wirt wasn't sure he could blush in his spirit form. He sure felt like trying.

"No you wouldn't," Dipper replied but there wasn't much force behind it. "I could maybe talk you into sharing."

Bill laughed too loud considering how close he was to Dipper's ear. Dipper pulled back, frowning and rubbing at it.

"I know you have no volume control but, ow, Bill."

"Oops!" The demon didn't look sorry. "I forgot."

"Well, now I know you're lying," Dipper said but it lacked the kind of venom associated with a statement like that.

"You can always tell, you're so smart for a human." Bill ran his knuckles down Dipper's cheek.

"Hearing you flatter me like that, makes me think you want something." He didn't look like he minded.

"This isn't about what I want this time, Pine Tree."

When their noses touched and Dipper's eyes started fluttering shut, Wirt panicked. The hugging and casual contact he had been fine with but this was going too far, too fast.

"Bill!" he shouted, voice higher than usual. The demon controlling his body froze. "You, you need to back off. I don't, I'm not, just." Words failed him. "Please."

To Wirt's relief, Bill listened. Dipper noticed that something was up, too.

"Bill? Is it Wirt? What-?" He went pale, jumped back. "Oh shit, I'm so sorry," he babbled, eyes searching for the spot Wirt was in, "this isn't what we agreed on, I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking."

It was Bill who sat the body down and yanked Wirt back in. Disoriented, during his first few seconds back in corporeal form, all Wirt did was stare ahead. Dipper was speaking.

"Wirt, Wirt, are you alright? Please talk to me."

Wirt forced his eyes to focus, then turned them on Dipper who looked about as close to panicking as Wirt had been moments earlier. "Dipper," Wirt managed. His voice sounded strange to him. "I'm fine now, I think." He frowned. The muscles of his face pulled at the skin around his eyebrows. "For a second there, it was just too intimate for Bill to be doing with my body," he went on, getting used to his voice again. "I thought it might be ok but when you..."

"It's ok, you're ok. How are you feeling?" Dipper asked, having crouched in front of Wirt so that they were eye to eye but not touching.

Wirt blinked at him. Eyelids were weird. "Tired. I'm so tired, suddenly." They had talked about it, Dipper had warned him that housing Bill could wear him out. "Can you take me upstairs? I don't want to sleep down here."

"Of course." Dipper helped him him up. Up from the couch, then up the stairs. Wirt was half asleep by the time they got to their bedroom. He felt like he floated to the bed but knew it was just Dipper laying him down.

"Is Bill around?" Wirt mumbled, "Tell him I'm not angry with him, he stopped." He pried his eyes open enough to see Dipper's concerned face looking down at him. He smiled. "I'm not angry with you, either." He slept.


	3. Misconceptions

He dreamed of sunny skies and good books the night after the possession. The dreams didn't seem weird at the time, but upon waking, Wirt knew that Bill had had something to do with them. He hadn't seen the demon in dreamland and he wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed. On one hand, he wasn't sure if he would have been able to face Bill so soon, on the other, he had wanted to hear Bill's take on things.

Dipper was asleep next to him. Wirt couldn't help but smile when incoherent mumbles against the pillow turned into muttering near his shoulder as Dipper shifted.

Wirt was contemplating going back to sleep when the door to the shop slammed. Startled, he sat up, hand on Dipper's side to wake him up. Both Dipper and Wirt had the shop key, and a couple people around town had a copy. If it wasn't one of them, there was only one other person Wirt could think of.

He shook Dipper. "Dipper, wake up."

Dipper groaned.

Wirt tried again, harder this time, "Dipper, either we're getting robbed or Mabel's here."

That woke Dipper up. He jumped out of bed before his eyes were even open. "Did you say Mabel? And robbed?" It was clear from his voice that he wasn't up to full speed. He still picked up the first jeans he found on the floor and pulled them on. Wirt got up at a more moderate pace.

"I heard the shop door," he explained. "So if they try to stay quiet, it's thieves, if not-" he didn't get to finish.

"Dip! Wirt! I'm home!"

"Well, there you have it." Wirt dug out a change of clothes. Dipper had ran down the stairs. He figured he would take his time, let the twins get most of the excitement at being reunited out of their systems. There were screams. Wirt was pretty sure it was Mabel but then, Dipper could reach the high notes with the best of them.

When he had showered and changed, and things sounded calmer, Wirt joined the two.

"Wirt oh my god!"

Wirt had just enough time to brace himself before he had an armful of Mabel.

"It's so good to see you!"

"You too, Mabel," Wirt said, giving her a squeeze before pulling back enough to look at her. With her heels, they were almost eye level with each other. She beamed at him.

"I see you're taking good care of brobro, he was sleep when I got here and everything." It was common knowledge to people in Dipper's orbit that he had horrible sleeping habits. Wirt had accumulated various tactics over the months to get him to sleep. What he had found most effective, was to just tell Dipper that he was going to bed, go to bed, and wait for Dipper to follow. It took between five minutes to two hours to take effect and Dipper was out like a light next to him.

"Someone has to," Wirt replied. Somewhere behind him, Dipper made an indignant noise.

"Guys, I'm right here."

"We know!" Mabel stepped past them towards the kitchen. "I'm making you two breakfast."

Wirt moved to stand next to Dipper who was staring after his sister, expression between irritated and excited. "Go help your sister, I'll go tidy up her room, alright?"

"What?" Dipper asked, absent before snapping back to the moment. "Oh. Yeah, sorry, it's just weird having her here again, you know? Familiar, but weird."

After a gentle nudge to get Dipper to move, Wirt wandered over to Mabel's room. He had stayed there, too, last fall. The colorful blanket was folded on the bed.

He pried open a window before moving on to check the sheets. Dipper had changed them in preparation for Mabel's arrival but Wirt wanted to make sure they were still alright. No dust or mysterious stains.

"Pilgrim, I need to talk to you."

Wirt reigned in his startled flinch the best he could. He kept his eyes on the chore. "What you need to do, is let Dipper spend time with his sister." If eye rolling made a sound, Wirt would have heard it then.

"Shooting Star chased him out after the first egg he let fall on the floor. Told him to come help you, and here he is, in the flesh."

At that, Wirt turned to him, just in time to see Bill grin at his own joke. Wirt sighed, crossing his arms. "If this is about yesterday-"

"If you're not mad about it, I don't see why we'd need to hash it out any more than we have." Bill marched over and flopped to sit on the freshly tidied bed.

Wirt wasn't angry, just disappointed.

"I need to talk to you about Star," Bill crossed his fingers and placed his hands on his lap. He indicated with his head for Wirt to take the spot next to him.

The methodological way Bill moved and waited for Wirt to sit down set off alarms in Wirt's head. Bill was never serious unless he absolutely had to be. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, shaky with nerves, Wirt waited for the demon to speak.

Bill studied him for a while. "I'm sure Dipper's told you about how hard it was for Star to come around to our arrangement."

Hearing Bill use Dipper's preferred name made Wirt's alarms louder. He nodded. Dipper had told him that things had been hard for the twins for a while after Dipper and Bill had first made their deal. They had made up but the way Dipper spoke about it made it sound like it had been a monumental change in their dynamic. Bill hadn't been there last Christmas, so Wirt hadn't seen Mabel interact with him. Wirt didn't know if she did at all.

"So I probably don't need to tell you that the history between me and Star has been," Bill paused, "spotty."

"I," Wirt started, cleared his throat, and tried again. "I have a general idea about what happened between you three, but." Wirt had to stop to think about how he wanted to put it. "I'm not very clear on how you and Mabel get along now."

Bill grinned, sardonic. "We get along by not interacting," he said. "But with you here, I'm hoping that could change."

Wirt felt a sudden bang of sympathy for the demon. He was sure Bill wouldn't appreciate it, but hearing that Bill wasn't even on speaking terms with Mabel, an integral part of their boyfriend's life, made him sad. He had to blink a couple times. "What can I do?"

"You get to play peacekeeper!" Bill declared. "Bring me up in casual conversation, be there when I take over around her, maybe even put in a good word for me."

So Bill wanted to put him in the middle of this relationship drama. Wirt knew there was no way he could say no to helping Dipper and Mabel to patch things up, and he did want all of them to get along. "I hate to break it to you but there aren't that many good words I have about you."

Bill looked delighted, "Rude!"

* * *

Wirt decided not to spring the Bill thing on Mabel before she had time to settle in. Judging from the way Dipper's eyes flashed yellow at him, Bill didn't agree. Tough.

Dipper didn't bring up the topic but he would get this absent, wishful look when he thought no one was paying attention. Wirt took it to mean that he was more or less on board.

Mabel was a source of cheer and energy. She got the shop and other public spaces in The Shack presentable within the first day of her stay. It seemed like one moment, as Wirt settled in to write, she was bustling about their grocery stocks, the next she reappeared from where she had ran off to and declared that the paperwork that Dipper had "goofed around with during winter season" was organized. She had somehow gotten Dipper out of the house to run errands for her around town. Wirt remained both awed and intimidated by her power.

The third evening of her stay, before Dipper was done with his errands for the day, Mabel let herself fall on the couch next to Wirt. He looked up from his book.

"Are you done for the day?" he asked.

"Yep! The Shack is ready to open tomorrow," she said, grinning. "I get things done, yo!" She threw up some made gang signs. Or what Wirt assumed were made up gang signs, it wasn't like he could tell the difference.

It was the perfect opportunity to bring up Bill. Wirt was about to send out a feeler, because he wanted for Mabel and Bill to get along. But. He hesitated, feeling a vague sort of horror. What if Mabel and Bill got along?! Combining Mabel's and Bill's drive, and their personalities, into a destructive force of both chaos and order, an organized mayhem, felt like the worst idea.

Mabel must have seen it on his face. It was too late.

"What's up?" she asked. The question was the harbinger of doom.

Wirt was aware that he might be a touch over dramatic.

"Uh," he said. "I've been thinking." So far so good. "You know how I'm in a relationship with your brother."

"No duh," Mabel interjected.

"But did you know that I'm also involved with, uh, Bill, you know the demon who's been a part of your brother's life since uh, forever?" Nailed it. Wirt knew that somewhere, Bill was face-palming.

Mabel's smile fell. "Sort of? I mean, I asked about it when you and Dipdop got together, officially, and he said that you were cool with that," she waved off into the distance, "whole situation. He never came out and said it, but I can put two and two together." She turned to sit so it was easier for her to face him. "Why do you ask?"

At this point, it was best to just come clean. "Bill asked me to help him get on better terms with you."

"Ah." Her eyes narrowed like Dipper's did when he was doing his scary perceptive detective thing. "So he got you to do his dirty work for him. Wirt, you know he's dangerous, right? Don't let his charming act fool you."

Wirt stared at her. He had to consciously decide to blink so his eyes wouldn't dry out. Bill? Charming act? They were talking about the same entity, right? "You've lost me."

Mabel looked at him with such pity he bristled. "Oh, Wirt, honey," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I know how Bill is, and I know how easy it is to fall for his thoughtful words and grand gestures. I've seen it happen, hell, I've almost had it happen to me." She leaned in to hug him. In his confusion, Wirt stayed still. She pulled back a moment later, hands on Wirt's stiff shoulders, looking at him with sad eyes. "Look, I know Dipper loves you but if you want out, I can help you."

"What," Wirt said.

Mabel shook him. "Listen to me please, I'm saying that if you feel like things aren't going well for you, I can help you leave."

It slowly dawned on him. "Oh," he said, then louder with a small, touched but amused smile, "Oooh!" At Mabel's alarmed look, he hurried to elaborate, "No, Mabel, you're so sweet but I'm fine, really." Wirt took Mabel's hands to his. "Really, I'm better than fine here. Bill hasn't," here, he had to laugh, " _charmed_ me into anything, trust me. I don't know what Bill you know but the one I've met is an obnoxious asshole."

It was Mabel's turn to look confused. "What," she said.

Wirt squeezed her hands, smiling. "I can't believe I'm using these words to defend anyone, but he really isn't charming in the slightest and whatever grand gestures he makes come off more creepy than anything. Believe me when I tell you, the Bill I know isn't some smooth operator out to manipulate me." He laughed again. It was disconcerting that Mabel had this misconception but he could have words with Bill about it later. Right now, it was just funny. "I mean, he is manipulative, don't get me wrong, but I know to be careful."

Mabel said, "I don't understand. I thought..."

The door slammed. They were both startled. Wirt turned his smiling face towards the entrance to the living room, expecting Dipper. He was half wrong.

Bill took in the scene, leaning on the door frame. "Shooting Star, I think it's time we talked."

Wirt snorted. "You have a great sense of dramatic timing."

"I know, right?"


	4. Make It Like A Pine Tree (and stay)

Bill looked pleased with himself. Mabel looked torn whether to glance between Wirt and Bill, or to meet Bill's stare head on. Wirt was amused by the whole situation but mostly by Bill's posturing.

"The secret is out now, Bill. She knows," Wirt said with his best dramatic flare.

The demon focused his eyes back on Wirt. "What are you on about, Pilgrim?"

Wirt heard Mabel's sharp inhale at the nickname. "She knows your true identity, Oh Ruler of the Mighty Nerds." He had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from giggling at Bill's expression. It was somewhere between About To Laugh and How Dare You.

"Uh, Wirt?" Mabel whispered to him in warning.

"Pilgrim, seriously, that joke got old before you were even born." The corners of Bill's mouth kept twitching.

"No, it's always been funny and forever will be."

"Can someone explain to me what's going on?" Mabel exclaimed. She pulled her hands free from Wirt's so she could stand up. In her stocking feet, she was about the same height as Dipper. She looked scared and Wirt's heart went out to her. He needed to have an actual conversation with Bill soon, get to the bottom of this. But right now, he needed to diffuse the situation. Wirt had thought that making fun of the demon without consequences would have showed her that she didn't need to fear him. Fear him more than was smart, anyway. It had the opposite effect.

Bill was about to open his mouth so Wirt stood up, too. "Bill, please don't," he said before the demon had a chance to make things worse. To his relief, Bill glared at him but stayed silent. "Thank you. I need you to let me do what you asked of me, alright?"

"What do you want?"

Wirt took that as a go-ahead, and guided Bill to sit on the couch. Bill looked disgruntled, out of his element.

Next, he addressed Mabel. Her fear had dulled to wide-eyed confusion. "Mabel, my sister from another mister," the words sounded strange coming from him; they were Mabel's, not his. They seemed to ease something in her. "Please, have a seat." His gesture was vague enough to let her decide whether to sit on the couch or the armchair. She took the armchair. Wirt sat next to Bill.

For a moment, no one said anything. The silence was tense.

"So," Bill was the first to break. "Shooting Star, how's it hanging?"

Mabel looked affronted. "Between what the hell is going on and bring back my brother," she snarled.

Throwing his arms in the air, almost hitting Wirt, Bill said, "See, Pilgrim, this is what I get when I try to deal with her. The woman's hysterical."

"Come say that to my face and I'll show you hysterical, you filthy triangle," Mabel shot back from the comfort of the armchair. She had drawn her legs closer to her body in a position that would have been comfortable if she didn't look so tense.

Wirt shot Bill a disapproving look. The demon sunk a little into the couch.

"Come on, what am I supposed to do?" Bill tried to plea, to get Wirt on his side, but it was ineffective. They would just have to talk to each other, Wirt was just there to make sure no one died or took any cheap shots.

Bill sighed, put upon even though this had been his idea. "Look, Star, I'm not going to lie to you and-"

"That'd be the first," Mabel put in.

"Will you let me finish a goddamn sentence?" Bill snapped.

"Maybe if you say something worthwhile. Oh wait! You can't!"

"Mabel, please," Wirt had to step in. "Hear him out, he wants to make peace with you."

"To what end?" Mabel yelled. "Wirt, you don't know him like I do, you have no idea what he's like! You think he cares but I'm telling you, he can't!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH," Bill boomed, rising to his feet. Wirt had never heard him use his voice like that. The lights flickered. Wirt was glued to the spot, staring at Bill.

"You shut your pathetic trap right now!" Bill went on, at a more human yell. "You don't know what you're talking about, you sorry sack of flesh! You don't know shit about me, or your brother, or Wirt!"

"You think I don't know my own brother?" Mabel's voice shook but she was recovering her confidence. "How dare you say that to me? We've been together all our lives, we love each other. You don't even have real emotions!"

Bill recoiled so violently that, for a second, it looked like he would throw Dipper's body backwards. He righted himself, twisting the face into a nasty smirk. "Been together all your lives, huh?"

Wirt got a feeling that this was one of those cheap shots he needed to penalize. He couldn't make a sound yet.

"Fuck you," Mabel whispered, visibly disturbed.

The realization was a long time coming, and Wirt felt horrible for not getting there sooner. As the situation appeared to Mabel, she was having a vicious argument with a cruel demon who wore her twin's face.

"Bill," he said, getting up. "I think you're done here." The demon looked ready to protest just before the body fell forward. Wirt was there to catch it.

Dipper clung to him longer than usual after coming back. "Mabel, Mabel I'm so sorry," Dipper said into Wirt's shirt, loud enough for Mabel to catch. "I thought that maybe," he managed to tear his face away from Wirt's chest to face his sister. "I don't know what I thought, but I guess I hoped, I just wanted you guys to make up."

After a few steadying breaths, Mabel got up and came over. She stayed a step away, with Wirt still between them. "Oh broski, I just don't think that's possible. He tried to take you from me and I can't forgive that."

Dipper shook his head, "That's not what happened, you've got it all wrong. It was an accident, we both miscalculated. He won't let it happen again."

"He miscalculated?" Mabel's voice got higher in disbelief. "Are you seriously trying to tell me that this self-proclaimed demon of infinite knowledge or whatever, _miscalculated_?"

"Mabes, Bill fucks up all the time."

Wirt nodded his agreement, feeling like it wasn't his place to speak, yet.

"Case in point, that entire conversation," Dipper continued, gaining steam. He shook against Wirt, but it was more irritation than sadness or fear. "I mean what in the hell was that? I thought he wanted to make nice, not get in a pissing contest with my goddamn twin sister about who cares about me more. It's you by the way," Dipper paused his rant to shoot Wirt a smile. "You win by not participating in a stupid argument. You are the champion of caring about me, I'll give you your prize later." He waggled his eyebrows in a way that was both ridiculous and inappropriate for the situation.

"Brobro, gross," Mabel protested. "I don't want to know what you guys do up there."

And just like that, the mood was lifted. Wirt frowned, confused again. "Wait," he said. "Have you two seriously not talked about this before now?"

They had identical shame-faces.

"Well, I mean," Dipper started.

"We didn't really talk before and right after Dipper's accident, so," Mabel continued.

"No, not really, I guess?" Dipper finished.

"A solid landing bro, eleven out of ten."

"Thanks, Mabes."

Wirt was so tired, all of a sudden. It wasn't about him, he knew. It was worse for everyone else involved. They had history Wirt wasn't a part of, history no one had bothered to tell him about. He had just been pushed right in the middle of it; the past and present friction between Mabel, Bill, and Dipper. Bill had asked him to get involved, and Wirt had agreed without asking further questions. Like an idiot. Dipper hadn't stopped him.

The twins were talking in their rapid fire way, where both of them used sentence fragments but still knew what the other was talking about. Wirt removed himself from between them, telling them that he was turning in for the night.

"Ok, good night," Dipper said, full focus on Mabel. "We have some catching up to do, so I'm probably going to stay up late. Hope you don't mind."

When Wirt left, he could feel Dipper's eyes on him for a brief moment before he turned a corner to climb the stairs. He didn't look back.

Once in the bedroom, he changed and curled up under the covers, his back to the room.

Sleep didn't come.

After staring at the wall for he didn't know how long, Wirt moved enough to reach his phone on the nightstand. He sent Greg a quick message to gauge whether he was awake and willing to talk. What time was it over there anyway?

Greg's response was instantaneous. They spent a few messages just catching up, touching on subjects like work and school, and their parents.

'Soooo, what did you really wanna talk about?'

Wirt didn't reply.

'I know it's late over there, way past your bedtime even'

'Come on brother o' mine, spill the scoop, give me the beans'

'Is there trouble in paradise'

'You know you can tell me all about your double bf, I won't tell mom'

Wirt read the messages a couple times, as if to absorb the good cheer and carefree attitude.

He spilled the scoop and gave the beans. Once Wirt started explaining the situation, he couldn't stop until he was done. He told Greg about the possession, about Mabel, about feeling used. A part of him didn't want to unload his worries on his brother. Greg was so much younger than him. It should have been Wirt listening to Greg's problems. He should have waited until his next therapist appointment, or until morning to talk to Dipper.

He didn't want to.

Greg didn't say anything before Wirt was done.

'Heavy'

Wirt laughed until he cried.

* * *

Next morning, Dipper was there with a breakfast tray. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, facing outward, with the tray next to him near Wirt's knee. Wirt stayed silent and still, giving himself time to think.

If Dipper was here, with an offering, he must have realized that he had done something wrong. There was only one way to find out if that something was what Wirt was angry about,

"Hey."

Dipper took a deep breath before turning to Wirt. "Hey." His smile was surface level and he fidgeted with the bed covers. "I brought you breakfast, as you can, um, see. Well, I mean, Mabel made it, it's like actually good instead of, you know, passable." He wasn't quite looking Wirt in the eye, and the silence after he spoke seemed to make him more nervous. "Look, man, I'm really sorry. About how the whole thing with Bill went."

Wirt didn't feel like accepting such a vague apology. He sat up, careful not to disturb the tray.

"I, uh," Dipper shrunk a little under the heavy silence. "I guess I wasn't thinking, about how the situation would effect you."

Wirt continued to stare him down, "You guess?"

Dipper flinched. "I know, ok? I wanted to not have this tension between Mabel and I anymore, and when Bill brought it up with you and you were on board, I just." He dragged a hand through his hair, stealing glances at Wirt. "I didn't think it'd get so ugly or that it'd effect you so much."

"So what you're telling me, is that you put your twin sister and the demon you've known for most of your life," Wirt said, cold. "The two people you know best, in the same room. And you had no way of, I don't know, _deducing_ how they'd react?"

Dipper was reduced to staring blankly at the floor. "I..."

"I get that you want Mabel and Bill to get along. I want them to get along, too." Wirt started out harsh but lost steam with every moment Dipper wasn't looking at him. Softer, "What bothers me the most, is that no one told me what I was getting into. I'd expect that from Bill, but not from you." He looked down, too. "I know I have blind spots when it comes to Bill, that's why I need you to have my back."

Dipper sniffed, then scoffed. "I'm not someone for you to manage, Pilgrim." Bill faced him head on. "I'm not joking when I tell you I'm something your puny human mind can't comprehend. That's not bravado, it's a fact. You have your moments, and Pine Tree values you. But," the demon took hold of Wirt's jaw to stop him from facing away. "You do not get to make him cry."

"But the two of you can walk all over me and I'm just supposed to take it?" Running away from demons, his or otherwise, had never gotten him anywhere.

Bill narrowed his eyes. "Maybe if you'd asked, you wouldn't have been caught off guard. Did you think of that?"

Wirt took a page out of Bill's book, and smirked, since he knew now that his face could bend that way. He just hoped it had the desired effect, instead of making him look like a moron. "If you'd just told me how sensitive the situation was, I could've given you some pointers on how to not completely mess it up. But that didn't occur to you, now did it?"

Bill's eyes flashed red.

"If you hurt me, Dipper will never forgive you," Wirt said.

The demon let go with a huff. He flopped his upper body across the bed, with his legs still hanging off the edge. Bill stared at the ceiling in silence, like he was contemplating something bigger than himself. "Oh Pilgrim, what am I going to do with you," he questioned but it was directed more to himself than Wirt.

Wirt didn't know what to make of it.

"I try to be mad at you and you just," he threw a hand up. "Get all assertive and hit the nail on the head."

Wirt nudged him with his foot. "Well, I'm not joking when I tell you I've logiced demons to submission before. That's not bravado, it's a fact."

Bill laughed and swatted at Wirt's leg. "Stop!" Wirt found himself smiling, too. What the hell. The demon grinned up at him, "So you'll stay?"

Wirt's newfound cheer faded. "What?"

"Pine Tree's concerned that you're on your last straw, and about to take Mabel up on her offer to get you out of here," Bill stated.

Before he could question how Bill knew about that, Wirt stopped. It wasn't important; of course Bill knew. What was important, was that Bill had just revealed an insecurity Wirt hadn't realized even existed. "I would never just up and leave," he said, horrified at the idea. "I feel terrible about making Dipper cry, I hope you know that."

Bill nodded.

"I want him to know, too."

This time, when the body went limb, it was already lying down so Wirt got to see the moment yellow bled out of brown.

Dipper stared up at him. "Wirt, I'm so sorry."

Wirt moved closer, careful of the breakfast tray, so he could get the hair out of Dipper's eyes. "Shh, we're fine. We can work this out. I'm not going anywhere."

Raising a careful hand to Wirt's face, Dipper asked, "Kiss me?"

Wirt did. He never got around to eating that breakfast.


	5. Second Contact

Dipper peeked past the door connecting the shop to the living area. Through the crack of the door above Dipper's head, Wirt could see Mabel giving them a thumbs up. The gesture made Dipper close the door. The back of his neck was red.

Wirt had a therapist appointment the next day. The way Dipper had freaked out about him going to bed early and the argument that morning, told Wirt that he shouldn't leave Dipper alone. Bill and Mabel were around but Mabel was busy running the Shack and Wirt wasn't sure about Bill anymore. He wasn't angry with the demon, he just had a feeling he shouldn't trust Bill with anyone's mental health. Mind demon didn't equal mental healthcare professional.

So Wirt spent the rest of the day accompanying Dipper on his Shack related chores and reasearch excursions around town. It seemed to work; Dipper relaxed. Wirt cancelled his appointment for the first time in months. He had tried to skip a few, near the beginning of his recovery, but Dipper had re-booked them and escorted him to the office. Wirt wasn't sure how Dipper had pulled it off, since he was an adult and Dipper wasn't his guardian, but he suspected that Bill had had something to do with it. The receptionist had looked spacey each time.

Mabel and Dipper spent more time together. They never mentioned Bill, not infront of Wirt. He hoped they hadn't just reburied the subject. They seemed fine, having silly arguments about things that didn't matter, needling each other. Wirt let them be.

The time of "a solar thing", as Dipper had put it, was approaching.

* * *

"Are you sure you're okay?" Dipper asked for about the millionth time. They were heading out, deeper into the woods. It had turned out that what Dipper had initially described as "a solar thing" was an eclipse. The creatures might not want tourists swarming the woods but both Dipper and Wirt were permanent residents, and Mabel a sort of honorary resident. Dipper had said that it would be fine. Bill had agreed, for what that was worth.

An hour before the eclipse, they had packed their supplies and closed the Shack for the day.

Wirt wasn't clear on what to expect. Dipper had ranted about it, and while he cared about what Dipper cared about, he sometimes had a hard time following Dipper's train of thought. It had something to do with the time of the year and the moon cycle. And magic? It had probably to do with magic, even though, as Dipper had explained, "magic" wasn't a catch-all term for things one couldn't understand when it came to his line of work. That "magic" was a specific, quantifiable thing. What kind of a thing, Wirt didn't know.

On a hill just high enough to rise above the tree tops, Mabel kicked away some rocks to clear an area for the picnic blanket: the colorful patchwork one from the spare bedroom, re-purposed. Wirt felt strange about sitting on it. Like getting it dirty was an issue he couldn't fix just by throwing it in the washing machine.

"Aw, guys, it's so nice out," Mabel declared, flopping down to lie on her back on the blanket. Dipper followed her example, and Wirt decided to ignore his hangup. It was Mabel's blanket, she was fine with it on the ground, he would be, too. He sat down near Dipper and peered over at Mabel.

"Isn't it? A bit more dry than I'm used to," Wirt said.

"Are you guys seriously talking about the weather?" Dipper asked. "You know we're here to witness an actually interesting phenomenon, right?"

Mable stuck her tongue out. "That's what I say to your interesting phenomenon."

"Yeah? What happened to you gushing about it all morning?"

"Your face happened!"

Wirt kept out of the extremely mature bickering. It looked like the siblings were getting along. After a few more barbs, they devolved to saying "No, you" to each other until Mabel brought out her trump card, "No you times infinity," and Dipper was vanquished.

The time of the eclipse was approaching. They put on the eye protection Mabel had made for them, groucho glasses with aluminized mylar, and sat back.

The moon was too far away to completely cover the sun. That still meant that it was darker than it ever should be on a sunny day. The forest surrounding the hill came alive with sound. Leaves rustled, and the trees swayed, yet Wirt felt no wind. The air didn't feel as warm as it had a moment before. Wirt wanted to turn and ask Dipper about it, but he found it difficult to look away from the sky.

There was only the eclipse. The forest. The dark.

He wanted to close his eyes, just for a second, and breathe. He didn't dare. What if what was behind his eyelids was worse? A deeper darkness.

Somewhere far away he heard his name being repeated. He thought it was his name. It echoed.

"Pilgrim!"

That's right. He was the pilgrim. He floated, his body felt distant, like he could see himself sitting on the blanket bellow, Dipper's hand shaking his shoulder. He moved his arm but all he got was a small tug on his wrist.

Wait.

He moved to touch Dipper but he was too far away. His arm didn't move. Then, after he had stopped trying, it did.

"Pilgrim, you-! I can't believe I thought you had a working brain!"

His body jerked, as though pulled to one direction then the other. Wirt, watching, didn't move. Wirt bellow opened his eyes with a start. They were yellow.

"What in the?" his voice echoed. That meant something. Didn't it?

"Bill?" Dipper said, voice a mix of anger and concern. "How are you there? Where's Wirt?"

Wirt frowned, looked down at his body, raised his hand to see the line connecting him to it. "Bill what the hell!"

Bill slapped a hand on his, Wirt's, forehead. "You're both so dumb. I don't know how I deal with, just," he threw his arms up, the dramatic asshole, almost hitting Mabel. She was staring at the exchange with wide eyes. "All your human emotional baggage, combined!" Bill shouted. "You are the worst at humaning!"

Wirt felt a genuine sense of panic. He had somehow gotten ejected from his body, and Bill couldn't form coherent sentences. It had to be bad.

"Uuh, brobro, how is he here?" Mabel asked, glancing between Wirt's body and Dipper. "How is he in Wirt, where is Wirt?"

Bill raised a hand to try and silence her. "Star, I need you to stay out of this while I teach these two idiots some basics, ok? Can you just not start screaming at me for a moment longer, thanks."

Mabel glared but didn't say anything.

The demon pulled Wirt closer by the string and took Dipper by the shoulder. "Alright, flesh puppets, gather 'round. Bill Cipher's gonna explain a thing about possession and the human psyche."

"Can you stop with the dramatics and just tell us?" Dipper asked, done before the lesson had even started. Wirt was inclined to agree.

"Well, since you asked so nicely, dear!" Bill grinned. Despite the situation, he was still enjoying the spotlight. "So! When a person has something hanging out in their mind and doesn't take care of it, like they should," he shot Wirt a look, "and then get exposed to the concept of leaving their body, and just, do it! Leave their body unattended when there's already a thing in there, hankering for a nice meat suit." Bill paused to look at both of them in turn. "Please tell me you're catching on."

Dipper looked around for Wirt. Bill grabbed his chin to point his head to the right direction. "Wirt?" He wasn't looking through Wirt anymore. Bill looked more smug than usual. "Can you describe what happened? How are you feeling?"

"Uh, I," Wirt began. "Can you actually hear me?"

"Sort of?"

Wirt chanced a glance at Bill, who was petting the side of Dipper's face with his thumb, distracted. "It got dark and I guess the creatures living around here got active?" Wirt described but it came out sounding more like a question.

Dipper nodded.

"It was just, so much like what happened when, you know," Wirt trailed off, wishing that Dipper would let go of the subject. He knew better than that. "I, the thing with Bill possessing me, and then Mabel and you and Bill, again, just." He was worried that he wasn't making much sense but Dipper would get around to asking follow up questions at some point. "I might have cancelled my appointment? With my therapist? To, I don't know, ease your nerves about me leaving. And then I guess I sort of slipped out?" Wirt hovered, feeling awkward about the silence that followed.

Dipper ran a hand through his hair, dislodging his hat, before leaning his forehead against Bill's shoulder. The demon moved his hand to pat Dipper on the head.

"There, there," Bill said, smiling.

"So, uh," Wirt said, intelligent as ever. "I'm just going to, tag back in?" He didn't know why that came out like a question, too. Why was he connected to his body, anyway? He had thought the symbol had washed out by now.

"Or!" Bill eased Dipper away from his shoulder to face him. "You could just watch. Tag in any time, no worries, I'll back off." Both Wirt and Dipper looked equally as confused before Bill connected his mouth with Dipper's. Wirt stared, Dipper let out a muffled noise of surprise. For a second, he looked like he was going to push Bill off but ended up pushing himself against him instead. Bill smirked into the kiss and leveraged Wirt's taller stature to press Dipper back on the blanket.

Wirt was about to yank himself back into his body. Dipper made a soft, pleased sound. Wirt reconsidered, floating to a better angle. This was weird, right?

Bill pulled back enough for Wirt to see Dipper's teeth drag against Bill's lip. The demon chuckled. "Hm, feisty."

Dipper pulled Bill back in.

It occurred to Wirt that while he was sort of watching himself kissing his boyfriend, he was also watching his partners kissing each other. And wasn't that just a thing that was happening.

"Uh, guys?" Mabel said from where she was standing next to the blanket.

Right. Mabel was there, too. Watching Wirt's body, possessed by the demon she hated, kissing her twin.

"Alright, getting a bit awkward," was the only warning he gave before using the string to yank himself back into his body. His teeth clacked against Dipper's and they both winced. Wirt heard a faint, echoing laugh. Dipper blinked. From the side, Mabel threw a pine cone at him; it landed right against his temple with just enough force for him to feel it.

"Ow. Give me a second to reorientate myself, and I'll get off," Wirt said. Then rethought his choice of words. "I mean, I'll get off Dipper? No, wait that's not right, either."

Dipper covered his eyes with his forearm, face red and mortified. "Oh god."

"Explain." Mabel had her eyes fixed on Wirt.

He hurried to get up. The forest was filled with light. "How much has Dipper told you about what happened with me last fall?" Wirt asked.

"You had some trouble with a demon, I guess? It almost took over your body." Mabel shrugged, "He was really vague because it wasn't his place to tell, I just sort of assumed that he was talking about Bill."

"He wasn't." Wirt defended, despite how objectively, Bill was more of a threat than The Beast had ever been. "Bill helped me. Or helped Dipper help me. Whatever."

Some of Mabel's irritation was replaced with worry, "But you were almost taken over?"

"Yes. Or at least, sort of." Wirt rubbed his temple, tired. He didn't feel like going over what had happened with yet another person. Mabel needed to know, for everything to work out.

"I don't know, exactly. We put it on hold, I'm still at risk, though, and that's what just happened," Wirt explained, in the most non-specific terms possible. "What could've happened if Bill hadn't handled it." Which worried him. Was the handling pro bono because they hadn't made a deal before hand, or did he now owe Bill? His head hurt.

Mabel shifted her weight from foot to foot, looking to the side, conflicted. "I," she said. "I think I need some time to process this." She picked up her bag and started heading back toward the Shack. Her leaving spurred Dipper to get up.

"Mabel, wait!" He was about to go after her when Wirt placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I think it's best if we let her be for a while," Wirt said, giving Dipper a smile. Dipper looked ready to protest before his face took on the faraway expression of communicating with Bill. When his eyes refocused on Wirt, he nodded.

"Ok, I, I guess it's for the best, then."

They packed their things in silence, stalling to give Mabel time to reach the Shack first and to get some privacy. When they got back, the door to her room was closed.

Now that they had their peace and quiet back, they didn't want it. Mabel was still around, taking care of the Shack and fielding the tourists-related work. Whenever Wirt ran into her in the living space, or outside, they exchanged a few words. It was pleasant, polite. Wirt hated it, and judging by how Dipper sulked, he did too. It was as though Mable had left, packed up all her cheer and hightailed out of there while still physically present.

Wirt didn't hold any of it against her; she could take all the time she needed. He could guess at the thoughts whirling around in her head, having gone through the process of accepting that Bill wasn't completely horrible. It hadn't been easy, it still continued to be hard, but Wirt thought that it was worth the effort to have Bill around. He hoped Mabel could come to see that, too.

* * *

A/N: the glasses thing might not be accurate, protect your eyes, kids


	6. A Triangle Peg

Wirt slept. In his dream, he was standing outside, surrounded by trees. The Shack was in view but he was walking past. One of the trees had an eye on it. He approached.

"Bill?" Wirt asked, frowning. He could guess what Bill wanted to talk about. The thought of going over The Beast incident again wasn't his idea of a good night's sleep.

The eye turned to look at Wirt, the middle of it lifting in what he recognized as a smile.

"Fancy meeting you here, Pilgrim," Bill said, floating away from the tree to adapt the triangle shape.

"Running into me in my own dream, imagine that." Wirt knew Bill had saved him but because their relationship had been so tumultuous, he wasn't thrilled. Grateful, sure, but not excited to hear what he owed the demon. "So."

Bill stared. "So."

There was a beat of silence as Wirt waited for Bill to continue speaking but Bill continued staring. Wirt gave up first with a sigh, "Earlier, during the eclipse, I... Thank you. It was nice of you. And I appreciate that you left the string intact when you didn't have to, but." He hesitated. "What do you want?"

The demon studied him for a moment, glowing softly, before kicking back to lounge in the air. "Alright Pilgrim, get this. I realized that I short changed you with the whole," he made a careless hand gesture, "Shooting Star thing, and you're right: if I hurt you or let you get hurt, Pine Tree will hate me forever. So!" He clapped his hands together and pointed his fingers toward Wirt. "You get this one for free!"

It took Wirt by surprise. "Oh," he looked down to hide his confusion. It was invain; Bill saw it, but Wirt found it hard to keep looking at the demon. "Well, I, it, um." Could he blush in a dream? "Thanks?" Yes.

"Pilgrim, you're adorable!" Bill declared. "I'm flattered that you thought I'd use this as an opportunity to get something from you and all, and I _would_ , but! Ya'know, that isn't the most lucrative course of action for me right now."

When Wirt looked up, Bill was studying his nails. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, nothing. Just, getting on Pine Tree's bad side never works out for me, in the end." He spared Wirt a glance. "Looks like you're included there, now."

Wirt hoped he hadn't asked. The answer made him even more confused. "Right."

Bill laughed. "Aww, you don't get it. Don't worry, not a lot of flesh sacks do. All you really need to know, is that both of you are important to me, and that I'm your ally."

The word "ally" was still echoing through Wirt's mind when he woke up. Dipper was next to him, watching.

"Morning," Dipper said. "How'd your talk with Bill go?"

"Well, you know," Wirt shrugged with the shoulder he wasn't lying on. "The usual. I asked a couple questions, he answered in the most confusing way possible and did most of the talking."

"That sounds about right."

They shared a smile.

"He told me I was important to him," Wirt said. "But he did it in a weird way?" Like Wirt was a rare commodity, and instead of being someone Bill cared about, caring about him was the more important aspect. It was all sideways, as was the Bill way. That didn't mean he had to like it, or accept it at face-value.

Dipper studied him. "But that's good, right? That he cares, I mean."

"Yes, I suppose." He smiled again, despite the darker twist he felt the demon's words held. "I do like getting reassured, and I do hope he's being sincere. Or, as sincere as Bill ever gets, anyway."

"Don't worry," Dipper started stroking his hand up and down Wirt's arm, keeping eye contact. "I know he means it."

The contact relaxed a tension in Wirt he hadn't been aware of. Like he could drift right back to sleep. "How can you tell?"

Dipper grinned. "I've known him for a very long time, you sort of get a feel for it." While keeping up the soothing motions, he leaned in to kiss Wirt. It was a small thing, over in a second. "You can go back to sleep. He won't bother you again tonight."

Wirt followed his instructions.

The next time Wirt woke up, Dipper was still there but dressed and sitting on top of the covers, pouring over papers. He hadn't noticed Wirt stir, so Wirt took the opportunity to observe undetected.

Dipper had a concentrated frown on his face, eyes skimming the lines of text. From Wirt's vantage point, he couldn't make out details but it looked like Dipper was drawing a chart on the notebook next to him. He kept pushing his bangs back, annoyed at their lenght. Wirt needed to make him get a trim, or maybe to enlist Mabel to do it.

After a while, Wirt placed his hand on Dipper's back to get his attention. "Morning, again."

Dipper leaned into the touch. "Did I wake you? I can go work downstairs."

"You're fine." Wirt smiled, running his hand down Dipper's back before sitting up. "I think it's about time I got up, anyway." Leaning his head on Dipper's shoulder to peer at the notebook, Wirt asked, "What are you working on?"

"Just sorting through some old cases," Dipper replied. "And going over my notes on what happened yesterday." He glanced at Wirt from the corner of his eye. "You don't have to talk about it right now, but I'd like to interview you. Get your take on things."

Wirt toyed with the frayed corner of the notebook. "For research?"

"Well, yeah, but also because I'm worried about you. You skipped one appointment, it got a little dark, and you noped out of there so hard you left your body. That's not normal, man."

Dipper's assessment surprised a laugh out of Wirt. "Heh, well, the definition of what's normal has been pretty flexible, lately."

Dipper nudged him. "I'm serious. I've been doing the whole getting possessed thing for years now, and I can't just leave my body on command like that. I mean, I've met people who can, but it takes a lot of practice and you've had none."

"I didn't do it on purpose," Wirt said, feeling defensive. "The situation just, sort of got to me, and the next thing I know, I'm floating and Bill's in my body."

With a sigh, Dipper leaned his head on Wirt's. "I didn't say you meant to do it. Good thing Bill's on our side, though."

"Should I be worried that he's being so generous?" Wirt knew that Dipper had already reassured him about Bill's apparent acts of kindness, and despite everything, Wirt wanted to trust both of them.

"Usually, I'd say yes," Dipper replied. "But, like I said, this is different." When Wirt didn't look convinced, he continued, "Bill helped with the beast thing the last time, too, remember?"

Wirt nodded. It had been Bill who had figured out that the fragment of the beast was in his head, and it had been Bill who had brought Dipper in and pulled Wirt out of the snow. But Bill had also been the one to open his eyes to demonic possession being just a fact of life, and the one who had just agreed to Wirt's stupid plan to go confront the beast. As always, Wirt's feelings for Bill were mixed.

"So," Dipper continued, "now he's helping you with it again."

"Alright, but why?"

"Ok, uh." For a moment, Dipper looked stumped. It didn't last for long, and he turned to look at Wirt properly, shaking him off in the process. "How do you feel, about Bill?"

Wirt scoffed, trying to remove himself from under Dipper's eye. Dipper stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Um," Wirt relented. "I guess I, uh." It was a lot harder to articulate than he had expected. He settled on, "I guess I adore and despise him with about the same intensity."

Dipper seemed like he knew how Wirt felt. "Don't you think, then, that it's possible that he feels the same way about us?"

Wirt hadn't thought about it like that. "I. Oh." Words just weren't with him today. Some poet he was.

"Yeah, exactly." He squeezed Wirt's arm. "Bill, he experiences emotions differently," Dipper explained. "Human emotions are basically chemicals interacting in our brain, right? Bill doesn't have any of that. It doesn't mean he's unfeeling, just that the way he processes things is fundamentally different."

Wirt went silent. He thought back on how he had reacted to Bill being Bill lately. They had been fine during the winter, for the most part. Wirt had concentrated on getting better, Bill had been doing demon things he had been vague about whenever Wirt dared to ask. It had been good, stuck in their own world, the forest and the creatures silent during the colder months. Their biggest problem had been getting a car to start and clearing a way out the yard.

Once spring had rolled around, Dipper's work had picked up, Wirt's therapy sessions had been gradually reduced from once a week to once a month, Bill had ran off somewhere. Wirt had been feeling better.

He frowned. Mabel's presence had been fine, during the winter when she had visited them over the holidays. But then, Bill had made himself scarce. Wirt refused to blame Mabel. Blaming Bill was always the easiest answer. To be fair, a lot of the time things going wrong was Bill's fault one way or another. This time, though, there had been a rising tension of work-related stress on all sides. Mabel showing up had just forced them to face their issues, along with introducing whole new ones. It had highlighted Bill's inability to interact with humans outside of their relationship.

Where Wirt had known, in theory, that Bill wasn't a nice being, seeing him fall on Mabel like he had, had demonstrated that in practice. Maybe his problems with Bill stemmed from how he kept trying to put Bill in a human mold. Like trying to put a triangle shaped peg into a person shaped hole, terrible metaphor and all. Applying the same rules of morality on the demon just didn't work.

"I guess I've been too hard on him, lately," Wirt admitted.

Dipper looked pleased. "It's fine. I doubt you've actually hurt his feelings. You know how Bill likes it when people assume he's the worst thing ever." He frowned, thinking. "Well, except when Mabel thought that he meant us harm."

Speaking of, "Do you think she still does?"

"Not sure," Dipper glanced down. "The few times I've tried to talk to her about it, she's brushed me off. She says she's too busy but I know she can handle the shop duties in her sleep."

"I'm sure she'll come around," Wirt said before Dipper started drifting away from the conversation.

"Yeah," Dipper agreed, eyes downcast and pensive. "I know it'll all blow over," he ran a hand through his hair, messing it up more. "I just wish she's talk to me about it, you know?"

"I know." Reaching out to fix Dipper's hair, Wirt mulled the situation over. He was ahead of the self-imposed writing schedule he had set once it had sunk in that it was what he would be doing professionally. "Do you have work today?" he asked.

Dipper looked up at him. "Nothing I can't do any other time."

"Good. We haven't done anything that hasn't been work related in forever, just the two of us," Wirt said. "Or the three of us if Bill's around," he amended

At Dipper's hopeful look, Wirt continued, "Let's go out, walk around town, eat food somewhere that isn't our kitchen. I don't even care, as long as what we do isn't just staying in again." Usually, Wirt was all for quiet days at the Shack, existing around each other, but right now it contributed to the problem. It would do them all good, a change of scenery.

Dipper smiled. "It's a date."

* * *

"I haven't been to the museum after the cult dispersed," Dipper said when Wirt suggested checking it out. They had eaten and walked around so far on their date. It could have been boring but Wirt was just happy to be not in the Shack, with Dipper. And Bill, who was "always watching".

"The cult?" Wirt asked.

"Yeah, it was, uh," Dipper paused to think. "The Blind Eye or something. They tried to keep the residents from remembering all the local weirdness. I, and a bunch of others, found out about it and went looking but they were a mess at that point." For a moment, it looked like Dipper wasn't going to elaborate, staring at the museum in front of them. Wirt bumped their shoulders together to get him to snap out of it.

"Oh," Dipper seemed to remember that he wasn't alone. "So they were basically going insane with trying to keep the peace or whatever. Not having them run things from the shadows was a big improvement."

"They just stopped?"

"Not really? I sort of had to force the issue. Bill helped."

Wirt knew Dipper was being vague on purpose. "What happened to them?"

"Nothing horrible, I mean, they're still around, just not doing the whole shady cult thing," Dipper explained. He must have recognized that his avoidance was making Wirt jump to the worst conclusions. "I thought it was somehow off, at the time. When we found them, they were already in a pretty bad shape. Lack of sleep, terrifying nightmares. Bill claimed innocence but I know he'd had something to do with it."

Wirt joined Dipper in staring at the building. "When was this?"

"During my first summer here. I was twelve, had recently met Bill," Dipper answered. "We didn't have a deal yet, but he was sort of there, constantly," in his tone a mix of annoyance and fondness.

Doing a good deed in the most roundabout way sounded enough like the Bill he knew to make Wirt feel some secondhand nostalgia.

They went inside the museum, and Wirt learned more than he ever wanted to know about the history of the town. While he was looking at paintings and reading pamphlets, people kept coming over to talk to Dipper. Some of them had a paranormal problem they wanted help with. To them, Dipper explained that he was off-duty and they could come to the Shack during business hours or call him if it was urgent, email him if it wasn't. Others had had a supernatural issue that Dipper had taken care of. They wanted to thank him again and to have a chat.

Wirt said a polite hello to whoever approached them but kept out of the conversation. Dipper took care of the situation with his patented awkwardness, while giving the impression that he was used to the attention.

It had somehow never occurred to Wirt that Dipper's work meant that he was on first name basis with most of Gravity Falls. From the way Dipper kept his distance, smile strained, Wirt got the impression that they were more casual acquaintances than friends. When his eyes started to bleed to yellow, Wirt grabbed him and excused them.

Once they were out of hearing range, he asked, "Are you alright?"

Dipper refused to look at him before falling against him. This relationship was excellent on Wirt's reflexes. He help the body up for the moment it took for Bill to take over.

"So," Wirt said when Bill was standing on his own two borrowed feet. "What was that all about?"

The demon looked over at the gathered crowd before addressing Wirt, "Pine Tree's bitter about having been treated like any other town loon until he proved useful."

Wirt closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Why can't he just tell me these things." It was more of a frustrated sigh than a question. True to form, Bill answered anyway,

"I don't know how you haven't caught on yet but he's the type that bottles things up." Bill grinned. "I'm here to share with you all his most embarrassing secrets!"

"That's great and all but can you keep your voice down for once?" The people Wirt had taken Dipper back from had started gesturing toward them and whispering.

"Nope! We'll just have to leave!" Bill marched out. Wirt followed, more subdued.

Outside, Bill adopted a more casual stroll, hands in his pockets. A picture perfect presentation of someone comfortable with themselves and their surroundings. Wirt caught up and fell into step with him.

"Hey, so, are you crashing our date?" Wirt asked, unsure which answer he wanted. His time with Bill was spent arguing, or talking about things of world ending importance. Wirt was unsure if they even had the ability to be on a casual outing in the real world.

"I thought I was invited."

A yes, then. "Ah, well, I guess you were." Why was this so hard? It was just Bill, the devil he knew. Literally. They should be able to walk down the street in broad daylight whenever they pleased. To an outsider, it looked like he was with Dipper, anyway.

Bill was watching him from the corner of his eye. "Sooo, wanna hold hands?"

The question took Wirt by surprise. Normally Bill just grabbed him. "Uh, not really?"

"Okay."

They kept walking, close without touching. Wirt couldn't think of a single thing to say. Or rather, he couldn't think of a single nice thing to say; he had plenty to say about how Bill had handled getting Dipper out of the museum. For once, he wanted to make an effort to be civil with the demon. It shouldn't be a huge issue.

Bill whirled so he was blocking Wirt's path, and stopped to stare at him for a long, drawn out moment. It was the most awkward moment in Wirt's entire existence.

"Um," Wirt commented.

"Tell me about it," Bill replied.

Riveting conversation.

"Alright, okay. I," Wirt sighed, visibly giving up. "I'm sorry. I can't do this," he said. Then, he shoved the demon with one hand, on the shoulder. "What was that in there? You _do_ get that if Dipper already feels isolated, making a scene like that isn't helpful, right?"

Bill relaxed. "Yeah, Pilgrim, let me have it. What exactly is your problem this time? Pine Tree needed to leave, I arranged that. Situation handled!"

"My 'problem'," Wirt stole Bill penchant for making air quotes, "is that I was already dealing with it fine! I'd have talked to him and got him out of there but nooo, you had to barge right in there to make things worse!"

Bill snorted, derisive. "Barge right in? Pine Tree wanted me to field that one! Does it not penetrate your thick skull that I have his best interest in mind?"

Wirt crossed his arms. "Then you shouldn't always indulge him like that. You can't just make every uncomfortable thing not happen to him. He needs to work them out himself, sometimes."

"Whatever!" Bill pointed a finger at Wirt's face, maintaining eye contact. "We are going to continue this human date together and you're going to like it."

Glancing down at the finger, unimpressed, Wirt challenged, "Make me."

The demon responded by poking Wirt on the nose, "Boop."

They both lost it. It didn't even cross Wirt's mind to be embarrassed about having yelled at Bill in the middle of the street, or about cackling like a lunatic.

"You're the worst! What was that?" Wirt got out between snickers. "Boop, seriously?"

Dipper's face nearly split from how hard Bill was grinning. "I found your laugh button!"

"Oh my god," Wirt heaved, struggling to regain his composure. He leaned his forehead against Bill's, just for a second. It was a gentle headbutt. He took Bill's hand, pulling back enough to turn them to the direction they had been walking before their romantic yelling match. Bill let him.

"Let's go set the town ablaze," Bill said.

"I really hope you mean that figuratively."

"Aw, come on, Pilgrim. It's like you don't know me at all." Bill grinned like the demon he was.

"It's because I know you that I worry." Wirt shoulder bumped him as they walked. "Seriously though, don't set anything on fire."

"I won't, scout's honor," Bill saluted.

Wirt scoffed, "You were never a scout."

"I might've possessed someone who was. You don't know."

"Is that where you learned how to light up a party?" Was he for real joking about arson with a being who would probably commit one without even understanding why he shouldn't?

Bill nodded, serious. "The fire making badge was the only one I got before someone burned down our camp."

Trying to fight back his laughter, Wirt snorted. He wasn't even sure if Bill was kidding or not. Judging from how his manic grin softened when he glanced at Wirt, it could go either way.


	7. A God Of Destruction

When Bill and Wirt got back to the Shack, Mabel was waiting for them. She sat on the steps leading into the store. Wirt tensed and glanced at Bill, held his hand tighter.

"Slow day?" Wirt asked once they got within hearing range.

Mabel smiled, strained. She kept glancing at Bill. It was a step up from hostility, her go to response so far. "So slow," she said. "There's been like one customer after you guys left."

"How many customers is 'like one', exactly?" Bill asked, coming to a stop next to Wirt, more than an arm's length from Mabel. She stared him down for a moment before replying,

"It's any number of customers I think is too few."

Bill inclined his head, "Makes sense."

Wirt forced his shoulders down from his ears. This was fine. A hint of antagonism on both sides but no one was yelling or throwing things. His bar for success was set low.

With a sigh, Mabel looked to the side for a second. Like the interaction pained her while she was determined to get through it. "So how was your date? Did you have fun?" The question was directed to the both of them.

Wirt took it first. "We did. Dipper and I went to the museum and then we walked back with Bill."

Mabel raised an eyebrow, her smile reluctant but still there. "The museum? You nerds. You do know there are actual fun things to do around here, right?"

"Yeah, well, Pilgrim wouldn't let me torch the town so our options were limited," Bill said with a shrug.

Wirt's attention snapped back to Bill, incredulous. "Maybe don't joke about that right now?" he said. "In our present company?" The demon didn't even have the decency to look cowed.

Much to Wirt's relief, Mabel took it in stride. "If you like burning things, I have some fireworks and some old stock I've been meaning to get rid of."

It was like Bill's whole being lit up. He placed a hand on his heart, touched. "Oh Shooting Star, you're too kind."

Mabel rolled her eyes, getting up. "Don't let it go to your head. This might be a one time deal." She started making her way behind the Shack. "Watch the store for me, ok?" she said, glancing at Wirt before rounding the corner. Bill was vibrating in excitement so hard Wirt could feel it in his shoulder.

"Um, no," Wirt said. "I'm not leaving you two alone with flammable things." He was getting pulled along even as he protested. He wanted Bill and Mabel to bond, and if it was over making things explode and catch on fire, so be it. That didn't mean he wanted them to burn everything he loved.

"I'll just listen for the bell then, I guess," Mabel shrugged, leading the group to a grass-free spot in the backyard. "Go get the water balloons and the hose, I'll get the burnables." She grinned, "Imma show you nerds how to have some real fun."

Beside him, Bill was bouncing on the balls of his feet and tugging at Wirt's arm. "You and Pine Tree were right; she's amazing. Why am I only discovering this now?"

"Because you've acted like a jerk around her so far? Just a wild guess," Wirt said, pulling the demon along to get the supplies. He grabbed the fire extinguisher from the store wall, too, just in case. He had the number of the fire department ready on his phone.

They blew stuff up, they threw water balloons at the ensuing flames and at each other. At one point, Mabel hosed Bill in the face, a vindictive look in her eyes. Wirt tried to remain the spectator. Once they hit him with a balloon a couple times, he had no choice but to retaliate.

"I am the god of destruction!" Mabel crowed and Bill joined her. Wirt would have worried that he had helped create a monster if he hadn't been having so much fun.

After, they sat on the porch and stared out into the forest. The air smelled of smoke. Bill, who moments before had been laughing and jumping around, was strangely somber.

"Hey," Wirt probed. "What's going on in there?" he asked, gesturing at the general vicinity of Bill's borrowed head.

"Oh, you couldn't comprehend it without your brain leaking out of your ears," the demon replied, eyes on the treeline.

"Gross," Mabel muttered on Wirt's other side. Somehow, he had ended up sitting between them.

"I second that notion," Wirt said.

"Sometimes brain leakage happens, get over it."

"That's not something you can just 'get over'," Mabel said. She didn't look hostile, just annoyed. Annoyance at the demon's antics was the gateway to liking him, Wirt knew.

"I'm pretty sure Bill's at least partly joking," Wirt said.

Bill went all out with the dramatic turn, wide eyes, serious mouth, Wirt could almost hear the music cue, "Or am I?"

"I really hope so," Mabel said at the same time as Wirt said, "Yes."

Bill continued to stare. "Why do you flesh sacks always gang up on me?"

Mabel tapped her chin, humming. "Well, gee, let me search my weak human head for an answer."

Relieved, Wirt played along, "Just give us a moment, you know how slow our measly meat brains are." Teasing was better than real fighting. Wirt hoped Bill was in the mood to take it from Mabel, so the situation wouldn't get out of hand. "We might need you to tell us the reason." He gave the demon a small smile and a nudge to make sure Bill was in on the joke. Bill didn't look angry.

"I can't wrap my head around your superior ways of thinking!" Mabel exclaimed.

Wirt fake gasped. "Maybe it's envy we feel, confronted by your more advanced faculties?"

"Oooohhh," Mabel was on the verge of laughter. "My fellow human, we need to run that by our greatest thinker."

"Of course, it wouldn't do to assume that we can perceive such magnificence by ourselves."

While Mabel gave in to laughter, and Wirt followed, Bill looked at a loss. He opened his mouth, somewhere between forming words and grinning but did neither. If Wirt had to name the emotions Bill was trying to convey, he would say the demon was reluctantly impressed.

* * *

The next time Wirt saw Mabel and Bill together, the two were camped out on the living room floor. Mabel was painting Bill's nails pink with some detailing he couldn't make out. Bill's, Dipper's, hair was shorter. Wirt stopped to stare in the doorway until Mabel lifted her head up from her work, spotting him.

"Oh hey Wirt. I'm giving Bill a makeover!"

Wirt glanced at the demon, who turned to look at him. He meant to convey a question with his raised eyebrow but Bill just wiggled his back. "Well, that's Dipper's body, so actually you're giving _him_ a makeover," Wirt said, addressing Mabel.

She grinned. "Oh, I know."

"Right." Wirt stood around, unsure what to do next. "I was looking for Dipper but I guess he's not available."

Bill perked up. "What'd you need him for?"

"I just wanted to check up on him before going to bed," Wirt replied.

"You're turning in already?" Mabel asked. "Boo, it's Friday, live a little!"

"Yeah Pilgrim, join us!" The demon pulled out a third pillow and set it next to him for Wirt to sit on. "Pine Tree's resting, don't worry. Shooting Star can do your nails, too!"

"Um," Wirt hesitated. He was sleepy, but not tired enough to not be curious about the peaceful hang-out the two were having. "Alright, I guess. My nails are fine, though."

"Nope! We have to match!" Bill declared, waving the hand Mabel wasn't working on at Wirt's general direction as Wirt sat down.

"We absolutely do not," Wirt said. He didn't care, one way or another; Greg had painted his nails more than once. It was more the principle of the thing. Saying no to Bill was one of life's few joys.

"Don't be such a buzz kill, Pilgrim!"

"Where'd you get 'a buzz'? Have you been sniffing the nail polish again?"

"What do you mean, again?"

"You know what."

Mabel, who had been observing their bickering while painting, piped up, "You don't have to let me do yours, but you'll have to do mine. There's no way I'm letting Bill try."

Wirt tore his attention away from the demon. "I'll give it my best effort."

"Let's be real though. No way is your best effort better than mine," Bill took Wirt's attention back.

"Oh my god," Mabel said in a tone of someone who had just seen the light. Her face stretched into a knowing grin. "I see how it is."

Bill narrowed his eyes and Wirt prepared to get between them. Again.

"I figured that with the way you always argue, you didn't get along, but you're just pulling each others pigtails!" Mabel announced.

"What," Bill said, deadpan. Wirt was right there with him, confused and sort of annoyed.

Mabel pushed on, "That's totally what this is! The way you're constantly on each others case, it's like!" she paused, to figure out what she wanted to say and to wave around. "You're flirting, but you're all weird about it!"

"How is that weird?" Bill asked, causing Wirt to turn to him again.

"That's your issue with this?"

The demon smirked. "What else could it be?"

"Aww! You guys," Mabel squished her cheeks, eyes sparkling. "That's so cute, in a kinda creepy way!"

"Kinda? I need to up my game!"

Bill was enjoying this, the bastard. "Bill, seriously, don't make this worse," Wirt said. Spending time with two people with no inside-voices was starting to make his head pound. While he liked them both individually, together they were a lot to handle. He should have been more careful in choosing his words.

"Oh but darling, making things worse is what I do." The demon leaned in close and fluttered his eyelashes.

Wirt was not impressed. "I know, honey. You're amazing at it."

"For serious, though," Mabel giggled. "Do you want to be alone? Should I leave you to your arguments of passion?"

"What? I don't," Wirt buried his face on his palms. It was warmer than usual. "I don't know what you're talking about." He felt Bill wrap an arm around him and found himself leaning into the demon.

"The love master strikes again!" Mabel shouted.

"I thought you were a god of destruction," Bill said.

"Pfft, I can be both!"

Bill was close enough for Wirt to feel him roll his eyes. In a rare show of volume-control, he asked, "Upstairs or more nails?"

It took Wirt a moment to understand that Bill wanted to know if he was ok to stay or if he wanted to turn in. He was tired, had been tired before subjecting himself to the combined energy of Mabel and Bill, but he did want to spend time with them. "I'm fine, just tired," Wirt said.

"Not what I asked."

"More nails, then."

"I will carry you out of here if you get too tired, don't think I won't." Bill pulled away, thrusting his nail-polish-free hand at Mabel. She was looking at Bill like she was seeing him for the first time, and didn't react beyond closing her mouth, which had been hanging open. Wirt couldn't blame her; he was always taken off-guard by Bill's acts of care, too.

Bill waved his hand around in front of her face. "Star, come on, are we doing this or what?"

She snapped out of it. "Yeah! Absolutely, let's do this."

* * *

Dipper sat across from Wirt with a notebook and a set of different colored pens. "Ok, so. I'm just going to ask you some questions, tell me if you need a break or to stop or something," Dipper said. When Wirt gave the go ahead, he launched into a series of specific questions. They included things like how far from his body Wirt had been when he had noticed he was no longer in it, and what had been the first thing that had clued him in that something was going on. Wirt answered the best he could but a lot of the time, he had to say he didn't know, and was left wondering what kind of information Dipper was aiming for and why.

He hesitated to bring up the beast. Dipper knew about it, thanks to Bill, but Wirt didn't want to be put under surveillance again. So he asked for a break from the barrage of questions. Dipper took a few moments to reorganize his notes while Wirt tried to decide how to best approach the matter. He didn't expect Bill to stop watching him but Dipper had told Wirt, before, that he would stop, without following through.

"Hey, Dipper?" Wirt said, continuing when Dipper looked up at him, "You know that, despite how, I mean, despite what happened, with the darkness getting to me and all that, I'm not relapsing or anything. Right?"

"Bill thinks you are."

"Well I think I'm not," Wirt argued. "I have the next appointment scheduled, I'm going to go to it. I have this under control."

Dipper gathered his notes and put down his pens. "Look, Wirt," he sighed, scratched his scalp a bit. "I worry about you, which you're probably aware of," he mumbled the second part, looking down. "I just, I need you to be ok."

Wirt knew. How could he not know when Dipper kept reminding him. "You take that worry a bit too far, sometimes." 'A bit' might be an understatement. "Also, while we're on the topic of telling each other things and making the other worry, why am I only now learning, through Bill, that you don't actually like anyone around here?" Wirt didn't want an argument, and there was a chance that he would just get Bill again, but tact just wasn't with him. Last night hadn't left him well-rested.

Dipper sat back. "That, yeah," he said. "It's not as clean cut as Bill sees it. I mean, I don't go out of my way to get into the towns people's good graces or anything, but I don't have like, a grudge."

Wirt glanced down, thinking. If Dipper said he didn't have a grudge, he didn't have a grudge. Regardless how Bill had made it sound. "Alright."

"Bill isn't an expert when it comes to the nuances of human emotion, despite what he claims."

"True. I sort of understand that stuff, though," Wirt said. "Being a human myself. So, uh, just come to me about that sort of thing, in the future," he managed. "Or talk to Mabel at least, I suppose."

"Mabel knows, she was there. But, um, I'd rather talk to you, in the future. And in the present," Dipper said, shy all of a sudden.

Wirt became hyper-aware of his own heartbeat, along with the warmth in his chest that spread to his face. "Ah, well, I." How words? "I'd rather talk to you, too? No, that's not," he hid behind his hand. "I don't mean I'd put talking to Mabel above talking to you, I just, she's great, a good friend, but you're better. Oh gosh, no that's." That was it. He would start writing his own dialogue beforehand. He had to. That just wasn't right.

Dipper was blushing but he was also trying not to laugh. "It's ok, I, I get what you mean." He did allow himself a grin. "You're better, too."

Wirt was looking at Dipper through his fingers, but he couldn't help but smile back.

After a beat, when Wirt had had time to find his bearings, Dipper ventured, "Do you want to continue this interview thing, or?"

"Actually, I'd like you to get over here," Wirt said. The back of Dipper's chair hit the floor with how fast he got up.

* * *

A/N: I really like the interactions between Mabel and Bill


	8. A Pilgrimage

Bill was there when Wirt woke up. Dipper's body had been pressed close, and Bill hadn't felt the need to move it. Wirt wouldn't have minded, except it was already warm in the attic and Bill ran a little hot.

"Ugh, why?" Wirt articulated.

"Can't I snuggle my other favorite human?"

It was a testament to how awake Wirt was that Bill's comment didn't even register at first. The demon rolled his eyes before kicking off the covers in a mess of limbs and fabric. Annoyed, but not as hot, Wirt commented, "Does this mean I've officially risen in rank?" Not that it was a competition; Dipper had been in Bill's life longer.

"You get that the difference between a decade and a year is insignificant to me, right?" Bill said, like he could read Wirt's mind. Which, he could, especially from such a non-existent distance. "I was around long before you two, and I'll be around long after," the demon stated. He didn't sound sad about it, it was just a fact, but Wirt thought the whole immortality thing was tragic.

"What will you do, after?" Wirt asked.

Bill shrugged, "Take over the world."

"Right."

"Look, Pilgrim, I know you don't think I'm serious about that, and maybe it's better that way. But!" Bill raised a self-important finger, a gesture that lost some of it's effect since the demon was lying down, pointing at the wall behind their heads. "It is what it is and there's nothing you can do to stop me," he stated.

Wirt's thoughts went where they always went when it came to Bill-related issues. "And what does Dipper say about it?" Bill was right; a declaration like that was hard to take seriously. It was so Disney-villainy.

"Pine Tree?" Bill's eyes looked ready to shine a light right in Wirt's face. "Oh, he says the same thing he always says." The demon grinned. "He says he'll stop me."

Dipper took control with a start. The sudden shift made Wirt jump.

"Woah, hey Wirt," Dipper exclaimed, as if he hadn't been well aware that Wirt was around. "I'm just going to go make us breakfast!" He sat up but before he could escape, Wirt caught him by the hand.

"I'm pretty sure Mabel's on it," Wirt pointed out. They could both hear singing from the ground floor.

"Haha, so she is," Dipper said, voice getting higher. Wirt frowned, suspicious, but before he had a chance to say anything, Dipper pulled himself free and left. After gaping at Dipper's retreating back for a second, Wirt scrambled to follow him.

As Wirt was running down the stairs, he saw Dipper walk out the door. He almost ran into Mabel. "Oh hey, morning, sorry," he said as he maneuvered around her.

"What's going on?"she called after him.

"Uuh," Wirt turned back to her before making it across the porch. "That's what I'm trying to find out, too," he said, and continued the chase. Dipper wasn't out of sight yet, but he would be soon if Wirt didn't hurry up. And then he would be lost. Dipper knew the surrounding woods, Wirt avoided getting to know them.

"Dipper!" Wirt called out. "Please, just, wait!"

At first, Wirt's plea had no effect. Dipper kept going, deeper into the woods. Then, he stopped as though he had hit a wall, started walking again, stopped. When Wirt got closer, he heard Dipper muttering to himself while tugging at his hair in frustration. He still walked, a couple of quick steps at a time, but it looked like he was fighting to take each one.

"Dipper?" Wirt asked, cautious about continuing his approach. He was close enough to make out some of what Dipper was saying. It was a litany of "Not now, I swear if you, no Bill, that's not it at all." Unsure of how to handle the latest curve ball life threw at him, Wirt took a step back.

"I'm not the one who's scaring him, asshole!" Dipper shouted in the middle of his stilted pacing. Wirt shrank away even though the yell hadn't been directed at him.

"Um, actually, you sort of are," Wirt said. At Wirt's words, Dipper spun around. He looked harassed, eyes wild.

"Wirt?" Dipper asked, just noticing that Wirt was there. He turned back around but didn't try to get away again. "Shit, I'm so sorry."

"Right, okay." Wirt took a moment to breathe and gather his thoughts. The situation was starting look like he should have brought back up; Mabel would have joined him if he had realized to ask. "So, uh, I'm still unclear on what exactly is going on."

"You seriously don't want to know," Dipper said.

"Let me be the judge of that," Wirt replied. The more Dipper avoided looking at him, the more dire the situation felt.

"No."

Wirt stared, struck. "Excuse me?" He knew that Dipper was one of the most stubborn people around, rivaled only by the rest of their small group, but this was new. There was something that directly involved Wirt and Dipper just decided not to tell him.

"It's for your own good," Dipper said, still facing away.

"For-?" Wirt repeated. Anger was starting to replace the numb, shocked feeling in his chest. "Let Bill tell me if you're not going to."

"You really don't need to hear what he has to say." Dipper's body shook with the effort of keeping Bill from taking over.

"I'm starting to think I do." Since when had Dipper been allowed to dictate what Wirt knew? Bill had been telling him about his plans for world domination, and Wirt hadn't been too the way Dipper was acting, his alarms were starting to go off.

The forest was silent.

After a moment spent listening for any signs of life around them, Dipper turned around. He looked desperate. "Please, just, let me protect you."

Despite himself, Wirt's anger faded a touch at Dipper's face and tone. "Protect me from what?" he asked. "If this is about what Bill was saying, I," he didn't get to finish. Dipper reached out, put a hand on his cheek.

"Don't ask me about that."

At Dipper's words, Wirt wanted to let it go. Wind rustled through the trees. It was like he was looking at Dipper through a dirty window with how hard it became to keep his focus on him.

There was still the forest. And the cold.

Wirt felt himself leave, he saw Dipper grow distant, his body starting to fall backwards. If Dipper hadn't taken a hold of the body, it would have hit the hard, packed dirt behind it.

"Wirt!" Dipper shouted, startled. He shook Wirt when a realization made his eyes go wide and his mouth hang open. In an instant, he had a marker out, drawing on the limp hand he cradled in his shaking one. "Bill, please," he whispered.

Wirt's body reanimated with a jerk. It sat up like an electric current had ran through it. Wirt, floating, was connected to it with the familiar string.

Wirt's body, Bill, spun on Dipper. "You," he growled. Dipper flinched. "I take back every good thing I ever said about your intelligence. Compliments revoked!" He looked up at Wirt. "What's up, Pilgrim?"

"Uh." It took a moment for Wirt to find his words again. "I'm confused, and a bit scared, I guess?" he tried. "Still unclear on how this keeps happening?"

"I've explained it to you once already. Don't tell me you've caught a case of the stupids, too," Bill said, harsh. Then, he seemed to reconsider his attitude. Softer, "I'm here so everything's under control now, but you really need to be more careful."

"Of what?" Wirt questioned.

Bill sighed. "Stress, getting too tired. All the fun stuff that someone," he shot Dipper a glare, "just keeps piling up on you."

Dipper 's eyes grew wide with horror. "Oh god, I didn't even, I didn't think-"

"Yeah, exactly." Bill flicked Dipper on the forehead. "I'm impressed by how, despite having such a nice mind for a human, you so consistently fail to use it. Really, that's a skill all on its own."

Rubbing his head, more in annoyance than pain, Dipper muttered, "I thought you weren't going to compliment me anymore."

"No, I took back all the compliments I've given you in the past. Keep up."

Wirt crossed his arms. The string tugged him closer. "Is this the part where someone finally tells me what's going on?"

Bill grinned up at him, taking Dipper's hand so he could hear, too. "Yes! Look at you, keeping the conversation on track and being all sensible and stuff."

Dipper glanced between them, frowning. "Bill, no. I don't think this is a good idea."

Wirt was having none of that. "Bill, yes. I think this is an excellent idea." He was siding with Bill; life as he knew it was doomed.

"I'm going to side with Pilgrim on this one."

"Like you've been doing anything else lately," Dipper muttered, facing away.

"Oh hush, don't make me give the library more funding again." When that failed to get a response, Bill shrugged. "One anonymous donation it is. Now, Pilgrim," the demon got back on track. "This isn't nearly as bad as Pine Tree made it seem with his melodrama."

"I maintain that that's for me to decide," Wirt said. He was getting tired of repeating himself. Someone needed to tell him what was going on before he started to freak out. Or before he started to freak out more than he already had, which was no small amount.

"Yeah, sure," Bill waved a dismissive hand. Dipper looked like he was about to interrupt again. Wirt tried glaring him to silence while Bill silenced him with a hand over his mouth. "Anyways! I was just going to come clean about the whole world domination thing." Bill exaggerated an eyeroll even more than usual. "But Pine Tree was all like 'No Bill he'll freak out and leave'," Bill's voice took on a higher pitch as he paraphrased Dipper. "Even though I've been clear about my intentions from the start."

Here, Dipper pushed Bill's hand away from his face. "He didn't think you were being serious!"

"Can you stop telling me what I think and how I feel?" Wirt snapped. Never mind that Dipper was right; he hadn't taken Bill seriously until just now. "I can dictate those things myself, thanks."

Dipper raised a hand, placating. "Okay, but-"

"There's no but!" Wirt interrupted. "I know you feel like you need to protect me, and I can't really hold that against you, all things considered, but I need you to ease up!" he yelled. "You get so controlling when you're convinced that you're doing the right thing and I don't like that about you!"

The way Dipper looked at him, with worry and fear, almost made Wirt back down. Bill leaned closer to Dipper and stage-whispered, "As someone who's semi-permanently on Pilgrim's shit list, I really do not envy you right now."

The comment got Dipper to break eye contact, which returned the wind to Wirt's sails, so to speak. "Shut up, Bill, " Wirt said.

The demon grinned, all teeth and no shame, finding a more comfortable position on the ground. "I'm not even here."

Wirt was both grateful and annoyed by Bill's presence, as per usual. He gave the demon a smile-frown combo that he hoped conveyed both of the emotions. Judging by the wink he got in response, it either got across his feelings perfectly or not at all. Dipper looked so confused by the exchange that it was like he forgot to be scared.

Right, yes, they were supposed to be fighting.

"So, anyway," Wirt continued at a more moderate tone. "You need to stop being such a stubborn, controlling jerk, and give me space to take care of my own problems."

"I, uh," Dipper looked at a loss. "I'm not sure if that's something I can do, but I can promise to try really hard?" he asked.

"I suppose that's good enough for now."

Bill clapped like he had just seen a good play. "Yay, conflict solved, good job everyone."

Gratefulness gone, Wirt was just annoyed. "You're not off the hook, we still need to talk, later." The need to leave the woods was getting to him. He wanted to go back to the Shack, and try to get through to Dipper by himself.

The demon smiled. It was an enigmatic thing, Wirt either wanted to kiss him or straggle him for it. "Later being the operative word here, babe." Bill said and yanked the string connecting Wirt to his body. Wirt had just enough time to give him a disgusted look before finding himself back in the physical realm.

His head hurt but not as much as he had come to expect. A bird started singing in the distance.

Dipper was right next to him, frowning in confusion and concern. "Did Bill just call you babe?"

"That never happened," Wirt replied, and Dipper didn't press for more information. He looked like he was dying to ask but kept to his promise of not getting on Wirt's case all the time. Instead, he helped Wirt up.

They made their way back to the Shack without another word.

Mabel was there when they got back. She was busy with a busload of tourists but she relaxed a touch when she saw them come out of the woods in one piece. Dipper had some kind of a silent exchange with her, consisting of vague hand gestures and expressions Wirt couldn't read. They looked like they reached an understanding by the end of it, giving each other a thumbs-up.

It wasn't quite what Wirt had with Greg, but close enough for him to recognize it as sibling communication. For them, it was more Greg poking and prodding at him until Wirt's annoyance turned into amusement and he gave into his little brother's positive outlook on life.

Wirt frowned, his step faltering. Huh. That explained how he got along with Bill so well. 'Well' being a relative term, of course. But also, ew, he had just compared the demon to his little brother and that just wasn't right. Greg was a ball of positivity while Bill was a triangle of, whatever he was. What Bill was the master of changed daily.

While deep in thought, Wirt had walked himself to the living room and sat down. Dipper was staring at him from across the room. Wirt stared back, waiting for Dipper to ask about what was on his mind.

For a moment, they were at an impasse.

Dipper looked away first, biting the inside of his cheek. He wanted to know, but didn't prod, so Wirt relented.

"I just realized that Greg and Bill are a bit alike," he admitted. "It's sort of messing with me."

Shoulders sagging, Dipper made his way over to the couch and sat next to Wirt. He smiled, hesitant. "I feel you, man. It hit me pretty hard when I realized that Bill was basically Mabel if Mabel ever had designs on world domination."

Wirt smiled back. "I think Mabel would lean more towards the kittens and rainbows aesthetic than Bill's fire and brimstone." It was a joke they were both in on, and that felt amazing after having been at odds. Even though the topic of the joke was a bit iffy.

Dipper laughed, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, either way, it'd be a party."

* * *

A/N: One more chapter to go :D


	9. A Party

When the rest of the tourists left, Mabel stopped by the living room to announce that she was going out with a friend.

"Candy's visiting her parents, so we're going to hit the town!" she said, shedding her work clothes, and persona, while running around to close the shop for the day. "Don't wait up!" The front door slammed behind her. Dipper didn't look fazed. How she managed all her obligations and hobbies while having a social life was the real mystery. "Once you accept that Mabel's an unstoppable force, your life'll become a lot easier," Dipper said.

"Candy is one of her childhood friends, right?" Wirt asked. Mabel had told him about her summers in Gravity Falls but the stories had so many different people, Wirt had trouble keeping track of them all.

"Yeah, she was one of the first friends Mabel made over here." Dipper frowned, "She's kinda weird."

Wirt smiled, sweet. "Compared to the people outside or compared to us?"

After a moment of thought, Dipper conceded, "Ok, point. I guess she fits right in."

They were getting off track again. Now that Mabel was gone, and Bill was avoiding Wirt, they could talk without getting interrupted.

"So what is it about Bill you don't want me to know?" Wirt asked, adding, "Besides the world domination thing."

Dipper shrunk away a little, placing one of the throw-pillows between them. "Well, I guess that's it." He was so seethrough that Wirt wondered how much of his secretive nature was Bill's doing. Or was it just that Wirt hadn't directly asked him before?

"You know that if you don't tell me, I'm just going to assume that worst, don't you?" Wirt pressed, crossing his arms and closing ranks.

"I, yeah, uh," Dipper wiped his hands on the pillow. "What is the worst scenario you can think of?" he asked, eyes shifting between what he was doing and Wirt's face.

For once, being a pessimist came in handy and Wirt didn't have to think before replying. "You've been scheming with Bill the whole time and I'm just a means to an end. What end, I don't know. Research, the apocalypse," Wirt shrugged. "For whatever reason you two are just stringing me along and our entire relationship is a sham."

Dipper froze. The reaction scared Wirt; just for a second, he managed to convince himself that he had been right. Then, Dipper threw aside the soft barrier, wrapping his arms around Wirt. "God Wirt, no," Dipper said, urgent. "No, no, no," he chanted next to Wirt's ear. In any other situation, the denial would have been suspicious. Now, it eased a tension in Wirt he had been unwilling to address.

He returned the embrace. "Since that's not it, I doubt anything you tell me will make me run for the hills," Wirt whispered. Dipper laughed and it sounded like relief.

"I know I'm a dumbass sometimes but I'd never hurt you on purpose."

Wirt believed him. The matter wasn't settled but his worst fears hadn't been confirmed, so for the moment he could be at ease. "I feel a bit dumb now, too," he admitted, squeezing Dipper tighter.

"You should, feel a lot dumb," Dipper muttered. "Also, if you run, don't go for the hills, there's all kinds of creatures out there you don't want to encounter alone."

"Then what do you recommend?"

"Just go to your car, get outside the town boarder as fast as you can. It's probably your safest bet," Dipper advised, adding, "Though if you run into a pterodactyl or a giant robot, you might need to improvise."

Wirt was about to laugh, but thought better of it. "Are those..?"

"Actual things that can and have happened?" Dipper finished for him. "Yes."

"Nothing makes sense anymore." Wirt held on tighter before letting go and pulling back to look Dipper in the eye.

"You'll get used to it," Dipper told him, hesitating to bring up something. Wirt could tell, and that put him more at ease. If Dipper had been lying to him the whole time, he would have noticed. Unlike Bill, Dipper was readable. "I don't know how it'll go or how you'll react," Dipper started. "And honestly that scares me a lot but, I mean, if you want to, I'll contact Bill for you and talk him into getting in touch with you again."

And Wirt had thought that convincing Dipper was going to be hard. "I'd like you to do that." He took Dipper's hand, his turn to weight his words before speaking. "Dipper, I, just no matter what he tells me, I want you to know, that is, um." It was a lot more difficult to say than popular media made it out to be.

Dipper smiled, shy but happy. "I, yeah. Me, too."

* * *

"If you thought things didn't make sense before, wait 'til I explain a thing!" Bill said the second Wirt slipped away from wakefulness. The declaration made no sense; Wirt was too busy taking in his new surroundings. He saw the house of his mind in the distance, and there were still trees around it, but the interior looked clear. For some reason, he had assumed that it would be the other way around.

Bill hovered right over Wirt's shoulder. "Pretty neat, huh?"

Distracted, Wirt asked, "What is?"

"The clean-up job!" Bill said. "There's that small area with _stuff_ ," he widened his staring eye at the word. "Buut maybe that'll sort itself out, too." The eye smiled.

"Uh," Wirt said. He hadn't expected Bill to contact him this soon. Even after Dipper had promised to pass a message, he had thought the demon would make him wait. The swift response was throwing him off. "The clean-up?" he tried but the demon just kept smiling. It was unnerving; the rest of Bill didn't move, his one eye directed at Wirt, unblinking. "Right." He fidgeted. "What was it you said? About explaining a thing?"

Bill's eye reset to an expression even harder for Wirt to read. "How do you feel about Gravity Falls?" the demon asked. "Do you like it? Planning to stay for long?"

"Are you just going to answer questions with more questions?" On top of feeling off balance, Wirt was worried and annoyed. The annoyance was normal, the worry shouldn't be. He had been cuddling up to Dipper a second ago, and now he was here. With Bill who insisted on being cryptic about everything he did. Dipper had made the whatever-this-was seem so serious, yet Bill's approach was the opposite.

Bill blinked at the question, "Are you?"

"No," Wirt replied, just to be contrary.

They had a stare-off. Then, Wirt realized that he wouldn't get the answers he sought if he wasn't ready to give Bill a tiny bit of leeway. His posture slumped. "I don't know how I feel about the town. There's just, so much strange stuff," he admitted. "But I am planning to stay. For the both of you." Wirt got the feeling that Bill knew. At least, he knew that Wirt would stay for Dipper.

Bill raised a hand and blue fire burst from it. Before Wirt had time to jump back, the flames formed a translucent circle. The edges of it filled with symbols and, on the center, Bill.

"And this is?" Wirt asked, even more confused. There had to be a limit to how much confusion one person could hold.

"I've been around, seen some stuff. This," Bill paused for added drama, "is what you flesh bags call 'The Cipher Wheel', or that's what Pine Tree calls it anyway." He shrugged. "The thing is, there are certain meatsuits that fit in the wheel." The symbols lit up one by one. "It's like destiny or whatever."

"Okay?" was what Wirt had to say. The explanation wasn't clearing things up.

Bill rolled his eye. "Look." Two of the symbols flashed, catching Wirt's attention.

"That's," he started but couldn't finish. Pine Tree and Shooting Star. Wirt thought a realization would hit him any moment but it never did. So Dipper and Mabel were on "The Cipher Wheel", and? "Why is this relevant now?" The twins and Bill were connected by "destiny or whatever" but Wirt didn't understand why Dipper hadn't told him. If Dipper was scared that Wirt would feel left out, the fear was unfounded. "I'm not on there, am I?"

The demon smiled. "No!"

Wirt was relieved.

"But!"

Wirt was no longer relieved.

"You might as well be, Pilgrim," Bill emphasized the nickname. For the first time, Wirt thought that maybe the demon didn't just give out the names to be obnoxious.

"You," Bill thrust his pointer finger at Wirt's face. "Are a traveler."

"Actually, I'm kind of a homebody."

Bill threw his hand up, "Yeesh, Pilgrim, ease up on the sass. I'm trying to explain a difficult concept, here."

Wirt huffed. "Fine."

"Thanks. Anyway, I am the closest thing to a god you'll ever meet!" Bill declared.

'Fine' revoked. "That's nice and all but when are you getting to the explanation part of this explanation?"

"I'm getting there right now," Bill sulked. "I wanted to give it a bit of flare, ya know, some zazam." The Cipher Wheel flashed again, this time in pink. "But you're all 'no Bill, get to the point Bill'."

"That's an accurate description of what I'm like," Wirt confirmed, done. "I'd go as far as to say that I'm like that constantly." He felt like this was a conversation they had had before, and would have many times in the future. Him, seeking answers, Bill, giving them in the worst way possible.

"I'll tell you something else you're like. A pilgrim," Bill forged on. "You travel, you go on a pilgrimage. You," the demon preached, doubling in size. "Are the rare flesh puppet who can replace any of the other ones, and the wheel'd still work."

Wirt shrunk back so Bill shrunk back, too.

"Basically, I've come to the conclusion that I'd rather have you on my side."

Basically. Right. "So the Wheel can hurt you?"

Bill was silent for a moment. "Hurt is such a strong word. Delay, more like. All you meat sacks can do is play for time, but." Another dramatic pause. "The thing is, you have a limited amount, while a have all of it."

"You have... all of time," Wirt reiterated.

The smile was back. "Yes!"

"So, you're, what? Collecting people connected to that," he gestured at the floating wheel, "in hopes that we won't use it against you?"

"Weeell," Bill tapped the area under his eye, as though deep in thought. "I set out to get Pine Tree when I realized he was the most trouble, but then you showed up, and I had to rethink my life _again_." He frowned. "And then, you two turned out to be compatible, against all odds, and then _us_ two were, too, also against all friggin' odds."

Surprised to see Bill frustrated for once, Wirt couldn't think of anything to say. When Bill said he was playing the long game, he meant something much longer and more complex than Wirt had assumed. This was some real fantasy sci-fi crap right here. And so was his life.

"So, yeah," Bill continued. "I guess this is my life now, happily in a relationship with two of the most inconvenient humans possible. Yay."

"I'm glad we're making you happy," Wirt commented, dry as the leaves he stood on. "Really. It's a weight of my chest to know that instead of destroying the universe, you're just destroying my sanity." As Wirt snarked, he realized that he sort of meant it. Bill could never know.

Bill glowed brighter for a second. "Speaking of, since we're committed to this happily-ever-after thing, I could help you out with the beast for realzies this time."

If Wirt had been the type to resort to violence, he would have punched Bill in the eye. For realzies, what an asshole. "Why do I even like you," he muttered, rubbing the bridge if his nose. He addressed Bill, louder, "And I take it that since we're so happy, you'll do it free of charge."

The demon had the audacity to laugh. "One of those things is true!" he cackled. "But seriously, I want your body." He stared, unmoving once again. When Wirt just responded by crossing his arms while screaming internally, Bill elaborated, "To possess."

"Yes, I know what you mean."

"It's nothing nefarious, just," Bill shrugged. "Dipper likes it." He held out a hand engulfed in flames.

For Dipper, Wirt took Bill's hand, "It's a deal."

* * *

A/N: That's it (for now? I'm not sure if there'll be more)! I hope you liked it, let me know what you thought!


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